Baku-2019: European Youth Summer Olympic Festival officially has been opened

Solemn opening ceremony of the XV European Youth Summer Olympic Festival was held in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. The spectacular event was organized at the Crystal Hall, one of the pearl of the modern architecture.

More than 3600 athletes and technical delegations have arrived in Azerbaijan to attend the event. Athletes will demonstrate their skills in 10 kinds of gymnastics, basketball, cycling, handball, judo, swimming, tennis, athletics, volleyball and wrestling competitions. At the festival, approximately 3,500 volunteers operate at 12 sports facilities.

The opening ceremony started with the greetings of the participants and the guests. Then, under the applause of the audience, soldiers of the National Guard of Azerbaijan brought our national flag to the stage and performed the National Anthem of Azerbaijan.

The event continued with the introduction of the flags of participating countries and the entry of athletes to the arena. It should be noted that this year athletes from 48 countries attended Festival.

Then, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev declared the XV European Youth Olympic Festival opened. Finally, the Olympic torch was burned.

Then the artistic part of the opening ceremony "Welcome to Azerbaijan" was started. About 500 young people have been involved into the program. Most of them were volunteers.

Finally, the flags of all the participating countries were waved and the opening ceremony of the XV European Youth Olympic Games was cvompleted.