EOC Appoints Commission to Find 2019 Euro Games Host

(ATR) Croatian NOC president Zlatko Matesa will chair the commission responsible for selecting the 2019 European Games host city.

The Baku 2015 co-com deputy chair has been one of the chief promoters of the continental games for Europe for several years. He led the European Olympic Committee’s European Games feasibility study working group before Baku was named as the host of the inaugural event.

Turkey’s Hasan Arat, Germany’s Michael Vesper, Denmark’s Niels Nygaard, and Russia’s Alexander Kozlovsky were also named to the 2019 Euro Games commission by the EOC. They will be assisted by the Guido De Bondt of Belgium.

Several European cities have already expressed interest in hosting the event.Earlier this month, Around the Rings reported that Istanbul and Mersin in Turkey, along with Kazan and Sochi in Russia, are weighing up bids to stage the EOC’s flagship multisports games. Other cities may yet come forward.

Preparations for the inaugural European Games in Baku ramp up next month with a chef de mission seminar. One-year-to-go celebrations are also taking place.

A test of Baku’s sporting infrastructure is now taking place with the opening of the European Youth Olympic Trials Friday.

More than 700 best athletes, most aged 16 and 17, are participating in 36 events in the three-day competition at the Tofig Bahramov Stadium. It is a qualifying event for the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games taking place in August.

Baku 2015’s new Athletes Village will accommodate the competitors.

Written by Mark Bisson

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