IN THE GRIP OF CRISIS

Sport has not been spared by the world financial crisis. In a number of countries, budgets have been cut - even in Britain, which in 2012 will host the Olympic Games. In the United States, sports subsidies for schools have been reduced, and there are many other examples. But what about Azerbaijan?

Full financing

Even before the New Year, Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov said that the world financial crisis would not affect the planned allocation of funds to different sports. "I would like to note that we have sufficient funds. Let me give one example: last year, we funded trips by national martial arts teams. And this year, the subsidies will increase," the minister stressed. And there is a logic to this; after all, the new Olympic cycle is about to begin and, sportsmen need to start training so that they can eventually compete for tickets to London. In addition, no major competitions have been withdrawn yet from the international calendar because of the world financial crisis, including world and European championships and cups. Furthermore, Azerbaijan has obligations: it is holding the European rhythmic gymnastics championship in Baku in May, the World Taekwondo Cup in July, and a number of other major events. Thus subsidies have been allocated by the sports federation as scheduled, and athletes are free to use the funds.

In the first few months of the year, our judo wrestlers had particularly busy schedules: they went to Tbilisi to compete in the World Cup, to Paris to appear in the Grand Slam tournament and to Hamburg for the Grand Prix. This is understandable too, because the International Judo Federation will cancel existing ratings and the abovementioned competitions gave the sportsmen the opportunity to earn their first rating points this year. And given that rating points are the only criterion for Olympic qualification, the team will need to travel as much as possible to earn points, not just appearing in tournaments, but also participating in joint training sessions, which are usually held immediately after the end of competitions. So, despite the world financial crisis, competition is vital if sportsmen want to make it to the Olympics.

At the same time, some federations are saving as much money as they can. For example, the taekwondo team initially planned to compete in the Trelleborg Open tournament in Sweden, but then decided to go to the March Grand Prix in Eindhoven instead. And with good reason, because the world's best fighters arrive in the Netherlands every year, and the Grand Prix there is a higher-level event than the Trelleborg Open, although testing the first-tier reserve would have been possible in Sweden too, given that new names have appeared in the national team.

Chess impasse

On the other hand, the world financial crisis has affected the performance of Azerbaijani grandmasters in the FIDE Grand Prix. Teymur Racapov is currently competing in the traditional super-tournament in Linares and is among the leaders, but whether the tournament will be completed on time is a big question. Doha and Montreux have already declined to host tournaments, and then Karlovy Vary followed their example, so the Grand Prix is already in doubt. Apparently, the financial problems and organizational difficulties might bring into question the expediency of continuing a tournament in which Magnus Karlsen and Michael Adams have already refused to participate. FIDE has been mulling over their refusals to this day. But our grandmasters continue to compete and Vuqar Hasimov, the winner of the Baku leg, is third in the overall rankings, and still has a chance of winning.

In general, however, cities declining to host competitions is a very rare occurrence. Everyone knows very well that not only the organization of the tournament itself, but the prestige of the venue is at risk. The European Gymnastics Union, for example, entrusted the next European Championship to Baku for a reason: the union knew that here it would be organized at the highest possible level. And no one doubts that it will indeed be a good tournament. After all, a reputation with international organizations is earned over the years, and Azerbaijan has already earned its reputation as a trustworthy sports nation.

So, it can be reasonably said that Azerbaijani sport is immune to the world financial crisis, and the teams continue to train in full swing for different events. Especially because many of the tournaments have long histories, a little financial difficulty cannot affect these events. On the contrary, some of the tournaments have considerable prize funds - and not only in tennis or chess. Commercial judo and taekwondo tournaments have been launched this year, not to mention wrestling and other sports, where rivalry is also quite intense. And Azerbaijani sportsmen will take part in many of them - they have a chance to perform well, but also to earn quite a lot of money.

Several examples

If we talk about the effects of the world financial crisis on different countries, we should first and foremost mention Britain, where the Olympic disciplines have been affected by budget cuts. Cutting expenses might hinder the implementation of the British authorities' ambitious plans to have national teams participating in all events at the Olympic Games in 2012. The funding of the shooting sports was cut by 3.84 million pounds, and the number of athletes in receipt of government support was reduced from 48 to 10. Expenditure on water polo was reduced by 50% to 1.45 million pounds. The handball team's budget was cut from 3 million to 1.448 million pounds. Let us note that, last month, the government increased spending on some Olympic disciplines which earned Britain medals at the Beijing games.  In particular, subsidies to cycling have increased.

Representatives of the federations affected by budget cuts have already conveyed their opinion to the government. For example, the president of the water polo federation said that this undermined the position of the national team and reduced its chances of making it through the qualifiers for the Olympic Games. The president of the British table tennis federation noted that officials regularly changed the federation's budget, regardless of its success.

At the same time, an IOC spokesman said that the financial crisis will not affect the preparations for the Olympic Games in Vancouver and London in 2010 and 2012. The Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli said that London and Vancouver are certainly feeling the pressure of the crisis, but this will not hinder them from preparing for the games. "Of course, we cannot say what will happen if the situation worsens significantly. Vancouver has no problem with funding. The majority of Olympic facilities have already been built. There are only a few problems with local sponsors. The Olympic Games are an immense opportunity for the host city. And I am certain that the Olympic Movement will survive all circumstances and any crisis," Felli noted.

US schools are also cutting funds - it all began in New York, where they decided to save money on sports teams by reducing the number of games in a season. The idea turned out to be so attractive that schools all over the country immediately followed this example. The New York Schools Association said that a shorter season will help schools cut expenses without affecting the curriculum itself. The two most popular sports in New York: baseball, where the season was shortened from 24 to 20 games, and American football, where the number of games was reduced from 10 to 8, suffered from the change. Cutting expenditure on sport is not a new idea. In Oklahoma, they decided to end the season earlier, and in Cleveland, discussions are under way on cancelling games completely.

Let us hope that all these anti-crisis measures are a temporary development and the world of sport will come through safely.