Stamps for European Games 2015 in Baku

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Day after day Azerbaijan is getting closer and closer to host the old continent's most significant event, the first ever European Games, which is expecting to see thousands of athletes and foreign guests from June 12 to 28.

The pre-game atmosphere is being felt everywhere and the state is making every efforts to live up to people’s expectation.

All government agencies are preparing intensively for the event as not to miss any detail.

Azermarka company, which is responsible for the production of Azerbaijani postage stamps has issued a series of stamps dedicated to the first Baku European Games 2015.

The series consists of five souvenir blocks each of which has four stamps. The stamps feature all 20 sports represented at Baku 2015. Some 16 of them are Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports.

Twelve of the sports will offer qualification opportunities for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Those sports include Archery, Athletics, Boxing, Cycling, Judo, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Triathlon, Volleyball and Wrestling.

Each stamp was issued in the edition of 100,000 copies. The price of the stamps is 0.2 manats ($0.19)

The stamps dedicated to the Games were created by artist Kh. Mirzoyev.

Earlier in November 2014, Azermarka issued two souvenir blocks with three stamps of each, with a value of 0.6 manats ($0.57).

The decorative motifs of the stamp were the country’s arenas and stadiums including the Crystal Hall, the Baku Aquatics Center, the Heydar Aliyev Arena, the National Stadium, the Tofig Bahramov Stadium and the National Gymnastics Arena, which will be venues for the Games.

The Crystal Hall which was built in 2012 near the National Flag Square has been earmarked to host major events. In 2012 the Hall was a venue for the Eurovision Song Contest. During the games, the hall will be broken into three halls and host five sports – Volleyball, Boxing, Karate, Taekwondo and Fencing.

The Heydar Aliyev Arena with a capacity of 4,000 will be used for Judo, Sambo and Wrestling disciplines.

The Tofiq Bahramov Stadium built in 1951 with the venue capacity of 1,200, will be used for Archery from June 16 to 22.

The National Gymnastics Arena with a capacity of 5,407 - built in 2014, is expected to see some 447 athletes. For the first time, five Gymnastics disciplines including Artistic Gymnastics [Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics], Rhythmic Gymnastics, Trampoline, Aerobic Gymnastics and Acrobatic Gymnastics will be part of a major Gymnastics competition.

The Baku Aquatics Centre is being constructed for the games and is set to become an iconic sporting venue for Azerbaijan. The venue will host three aquatic disciplines for the Games such as Swimming, Diving, and Synchronized Swimming. The venue will be able to host some 2,003 spectators during the games.

Baku was awarded the Games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012. The Baku European Games Operations Committee (BEGOC) is organizing and running the Games in cooperation with the EOC.