17 August 2011, 12:00
First winners of Pan-Armenian Games are athletes from Nagorno-Karabakh and Uruguay
The names of first winners of the 5th Pan-Armenian Games, which were kicked off in Yerevan on August 13 under the motto "Artsakh-Armenia-Diaspora", have become known.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the 5th Pan-Armenian Games attracted an unprecedented number of athletes. The parade of athletes was opened by teams of the cities of Nagorno-Karabakh; then, in the alphabetical order, teams of other participating countries and regions of Armenia followed.
According to the World Committee of Pan-Armenian Games, the team from the city of Shushi (Nagorno-Karabakh) won the table tennis tournament by defeating the team of Yerevan in the final match.
In swimming, Jose Melkonyan from Montevideo (Uruguay) was the winner among men, while Monica Vasilyan from Yerevan was the 100-meter freestyle gold medallist. Silver medal was given to Natalie Petrosyan from Boston (USA), and the bronze one – to Maria Arutyunyan from Tartu (Estonia).
The chess tournament is held in the House of Chess named after Tigran Petrosyan. The men's championship is 100 players strong; the women's one has 40 chess-players.
By tradition, the Pan-Armenian Games are held every four years. City teams compete in 10 sports, including football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, table tennis, badminton, athletics, swimming, chess, and futsal. This time, over three thousand athletes from 125 cities of the world came to the capital of Armenia to take part in the Games.
Author: Armine Martirosyan Source: CK correspondent
