Dumanyan on Pashinyan's Anger Towards Him

To ensure training for the men's and women's weightlifting national teams, a platform and 20 weights will be available in Armenia within a week or a maximum of ten days, and our weightlifters will be able to train with these new weights ahead of the Olympic Games scheduled for August. This was stated by Acting Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan in an interview with Haykakan Zhamanak.

According to him, the press commentary that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was angry with him for delaying the purchase of equipment is not accurate. The Prime Minister was frustrated with the situation that had arisen, and he himself was also dissatisfied with the situation.

It should be noted that during today’s Government session, one of the agenda items was discussed, where Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed his discontent that the necessary equipment purchases for weightlifters had been delayed. Despite instructing to acquire 20 complete sets of weights, the presented project only mentioned 7 sets (5 for men and 2 for women).

Pashinyan emphasized that he met with the coaches and athletes of the weightlifting team on April 27 of this year and unexpectedly found that they did not possess weights that meet international standards. He had instructed to provide them, yet as of today, July 1, the relevant project is only being brought to the Government’s agenda.

“If I remember correctly, the Olympic Games will take place in August 2021,” he pointed out, highlighting the discrepancies in timelines and deeming the implication that these preparations would be made for the next Olympic Games as unacceptable.

In our conversation, Vahram Dumanyan mentioned that 111 million AMD was needed to provide 20 sets of weights for the weightlifters, while the ministry could only allocate 38 million AMD from the budget, which was sufficient to purchase only 7 sets of weights. Following the Prime Minister’s directive today, an additional funding source was created, and 73 million AMD was allocated from the Government’s reserve fund to secure the 20 weights: 10 for men and 10 for women.

“I am very grateful to the Prime Minister, because without his intervention, we would not have been able to fully provide the necessary equipment for weightlifters with the resources of the ministry alone. Just as the Prime Minister was dissatisfied with the overall situation, so was I. The situation was related to the sources of funding. There is no problem with the minister's person or the ministry. It is not that there was an issue related to the Prime Minister's directive; on the contrary, the ministry did its utmost within its capacity. The Prime Minister’s discontent related to the general situation, that we should not be limited by the ministry's capabilities, but rather find ways to organize and implement the entire process in full. Immediately after his directive, the money was allocated from the reserve fund, and everything will be organized in time. All necessary equipment will reach our athletes, and they will be able to train with the new equipment before the start of the Olympic Games,” said Acting Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan.