The next training drills within the framework of the program "Olympic Movement"

Cycling Regional Championships of "Olympic Movement" were completed and training drills were held in Baku in order to prepare young athletes for the final stage.

The training drills were attended by 60-member delegation of athletes and teachers of 12 district teams of Baku city. The main purpose of the event is to help young athletes, who won the right to participate in the final stage of Baku City Championship among schoolchildren, achieve better results in the final stage. The training drills were held with the direct support of the Cycling Federation of Azerbaijan, the Republican Sports Center "Tahsil" and with the participation of Agshin Ismayilov, star athlete of the program.

After the general instructional part of the event, the teams were divided into groups. Agshin Ismayilov and professional coachers from the Cycling Federation of Azerbaijan provided useful information for schoolchildren about the topics such as important actions at the starting time, speed adjustment during the movement and turning traffic safety. Following the theoretical session, professional sportsmen invited from the Federation clearly demonstrated all the movements. Then, the teams repeated these manoeuvres under the supervision and guidance of the allotted coachers. During the break, a master class was organized for schoolchildren with the participation of members of the National Team and Agshin Ismayilov.

Farhad Aliyev, General Secretary of the Cycling Federation of Azerbaijan, expressed his views on the training drills and spoke about the importance of inclusion of cycling into the program "Olympic Movement". Agshin Ismayilov, star athlete of the program, noted that the program "Olympic Movement" aroused great interest among the youth and this program was extremely useful for children who started to ride a bike at the amateur level.

It should be noted that the program "Olympic Movement" was jointly organized by the International Olympic Committee, the "Coca-Cola" company - the Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Games, the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Ministry of Education. The pupils studying in more than 290 general education schools in Baku were involved in the regional championships organized under the program. At this stage, about 10 thousand schoolchildren (30 percent of them are girls) attended joyful, inclusive and safe sporting competitions held in 4 types of sports (3x3 basketball, badminton, athletics and cycling) with the support of National Sports Federations.

Baku City Championship among schoolchildren will be held on the basis of the rules, approved by the International Sports Federations for sports included in the program of the Summer Olympic Games, and the "Olympic system". The competitions will end with the final round and sports festival which will be organized at one of the sports arenas where the Baku 2015 First European Games have been held.