State support for sports development has never been so significant:  Zhanna Andreasyan retorts to former president of Alpine Ski  Federation

ArmInfo.  State support for sports development has never been so significant, as stated by Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan during a government hour in parliament on January 21, in response to outgoing President of the Armenian Alpine Ski Federation Gagik  Sargsyan's assertion that alpine skiing relies on state support for  its growth.

She noted that it is strange to hear about the lack of funding for  sports when funding has increased significantly. For instance, in  2007, 207 million drams were allocated for mass sport development,  compared to the current allocation of 5.5 billion drams. And this is  only for mass sports, she added.  Significant growth has also been  observed in funding for high-performance sports: while allocations in  2017 totaled approximately 1.5 billion drams, they now stand at 6.9  billion drams. Regarding winter sports specifically, the Minister  noted that after a 10-year hiatus, the Pan-Armenian Winter Games were  held in Jermuk in 2025.

"This year, funding for the Armenian Alpine Ski Federation increased  by approximately 18%. Therefore, all this talks are irrelevant,"  Andreasyan emphasized, adding that the development of winter sports  is a priority for the Armenian authorities.

Earlier, Gagik Sargsyan, president of the Armenian Alpine Ski  Federation, announced on social media that he was resigning amid the  scandal surrounding skier Mikael Mikaelyan, who was fined for  covering the "Azerbaijan" sign on his suit (the tournament is  sponsored by Azerbaijan) with tape during the Tour de Ski in Italy.  Following the incident in the Italian town of Toblach, the Ministry  of Education, Science and Culture of Armenia (MECSC) sent a written  request to the Federation asking for details to clarify the  situation. The Federation responded that the Tour de Ski in question  was not just a tournament, but a stage of the Alpine Skiing World  Cup. "The "Azerbaijan" sign was not on the jersey, but on the  participant's bib.  Our Armenian's move is more than clear, and we  believe it requires no clarification," the response stated.  As  Sargsyan stated in his video address, alpine skiing cannot develop  independently without state support, and this is perhaps one of the  reasons why government officials are reluctant to develop the sport,  he emphasized. "For several years, our requests, proposals, and  demands to the authorized body, in this case, the Ministry of  Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of Armenia, have remained  unanswered. Over time, you begin to wonder, 'Maybe I'm the one  hindering the development of the sport, and now I'm ridding people of  myself,'" Garik Sargsyan said.