Azerbaijan wins first gold medal at Islamic Solidarity Games

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani hammer thrower Anna Skidan has captured a gold medal at the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkiye, Azernews reports.

Anna Skidan has won Azerbaijan's first medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games.

After the brilliant victory, the hammer thrower shared her impressions with journalists.

As azerisport reports, Anna Skidan noted that she is happy to become the winner of the Islamic Solidarity Games for the second time, taking into account the victory five years ago in Baku.

"I am grateful to Azerbaijan for this opportunity. It was definitely a positive experience for me. The first place is always a great pleasure. I am grateful to the team for their support and, of course, I am happy with the result," said Skidan.

Anna Skidan previously competed for Azerbaijan at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in the women's hammer throw.

For Azerbaijan, she won the gold medals at the 2015 Summer Universiade and in the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games.

Her personal best in the event is 75.29 meters set in Baku in 2017.

Around 4,200 athletes from 56 countries are competing in the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games.

A total of 281 athletes are representing Azerbaijan at the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games to run until August 18.

Members of Azerbaijan's Elite/U23 national team competed in a group race at the Konya Velodrome.

Ayan Xankishiyeva took fourth (13 points) in Elite/U23 in women's cycle racing while Musa Mikayilzada ranked seventh in the men's cycle racing (8 points).

In March, the Organizing Committee announced the final program which consists of 22 disciplines from 19 sports including 4 para-sports

At the same time, the organizers choose to remove six sports: water polo, diving, field hockey, tennis, wushu, and zurkhaneh. At their place, they choose to add archery, boccia, fencing, and kickboxing.

At the paralympic events, para powerlifting and blind judo were replaced by para table tennis and para archery. Along these events, archery included four extra events with the Traditional Turkish Archery discipline.

Notably, the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games took place in Baku in 2017. All 56 members of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation participated in the Games.

Four disciplines from 21 sports were contested in the previous edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games.