Surrounded by the magical atmosphere of the Haydar Aliyev Congress Center, the opening ceremony of the ISSF World Cup Stage 5 in Gabala (AZE) took place tonight.
The Head of the Executive Committee of the Gabala District, Mr. Sabuhi Abdullayev, first addressed the audience, where authorities mixed themselves with athletes, coaches and officials: “I warmly welcome you all to Gabala, a rising city with centuries of history,” he said. “It’s very important for us to see you all here for this important competition, and we wish you all a safe and fair competition!”
The ISSF Technical Delegate, Mr. Peter Underhill followed on the podium: “On behalf of our President, Mr. Olegario Vazquez Raña, and of our Secretary General, Mr. Franz Schreiber, I thank you all for the unbelievable welcome. I want to express the gratitude of the whole International Shooting Sport Federation for being again the host of one of our competition,” said Mr. Underhill. “A competition that once more, you all delivered excellently.”
“I would also like to extend our special gratitude to all the volunteers, whose contribution is always priceless,” he concluded, finally declaring “the ISSF World Cup in Gabala officially open!”
The competition will take place at the Gabala Shooting Club until June 14th, with the first two medal events scheduled for tomorrow: the 10m Air Rifle Men at 12:45 pm (UTC+4:00), and the 10m Air Rifle Women at 4:15 pm.
The ten final matches will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel and on its official Facebook page.
News and updates about the competition will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all the social media platforms of the ISSF: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.