MINSK, 12 January (BelTA) – First Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus Maksim Ryzhenkov has been included to the membership of the Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees (EOC), BelTA learned from the NOC press service.
The Belarusian NOC received the corresponding notification signed by EOC Acting President Janez Kocijancic and EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi. The letter notified about the decision to include Maksim Ryzhenkov to the EOC Executive Committee to represent Belarus, a host country of the Second European Games 2019.
According to the NOC, a Belarusian representative will make part of the EOC Executive Committee for the first time.
“It is a milestone event in the Olympic movement development in Belarus. Maksim Ryzhenkov's inclusion to the EOC Executive Committee was preceded by the 25-year-long fruitful work of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee. The professional and personal qualities of the NOC First Vice President, including his diplomatic experience, the knowledge of foreign languages, great managerial skills, understanding and admiration of sports, readiness to provide support to athletes, coaches and sports specialists, also played an important role in the appointment. I am confident that this public position will promote Belarus' integration with the international Olympic movement, implementation of different joint programs and quality organization of the Second European Games in Minsk in 2019,” noted Antonina Koshel, an Olympic champion and Chairwoman of the Belarusian Public Association of Physical Education and Sports Veterans.
The EOC Executive Committee will next meet in Lausanne, Switzerland on 26 January 2017. The European Games 2019 in Minsk will make part of the agenda of the forthcoming meeting.
