Igor Sivodedov
MINSK, 10 August (BelTA) – State coach of the Belarusian national athletics team Igor Sivodedov said that competitions demonstrated high competition and a lot of personal records as he commented on the results of the 2nd CIS Games at a press conference on 10 August, BelTA has learned.
The coach of the national athletics team felt happy about the performance of the Belarusian athletes. The number of medals won by the Belarusian athletes exceeded the expectations. The team started preparing for the Games back in November.
“We counted on 25 medals, but out athletes did really great and won 39 medals, including 11 gold ones. I got morally satisfied from such an accomplishment. Many of our athletes renewed their personal achievements – theere more than 40 such facts in total,” Igor Sivodedov said.
The number of medals does not mean that the competition was easy. Belarusian athletes faced strong and motivated opponents.
“It was very high competition. First of all, I am talking about Russian athletes. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have very good teams who also showed a high level and won a lot of medals. Belarusian athletes demonstrated high competition, too,” Igor Sivodedov said.
Such competitions demonstrate the athletes’ current abilities and help assess the prospect of their career development.
“We also need to take the athletes’ age into account. The Games featured athletes whose age does not exceed 14 years. It is not quite right to expect high results at this age. The competitions gave an opportunity to assess the dynamics and the prospect of their further growth. It is very important. We hope that the athletes who have performed well at these games will continue to progress. Some of them will surely be able to join the national team and represent Belarus at the Olympics in the future,” Igor Sivodedov said.
