Why Our Champions Will Not Participate in the World Championship: The Defense Ministry's Response

Armenia will not participate with its strongest team in the Military World Wrestling Championships, which will be held from November 20-22 at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex.

A statement was issued by world and European champion, Olympic bronze medalist Malxas Amoyan, world triple bronze medalist, four-time European champion, and two-time U23 world champion Arsen Harutyunyan, world bronze medalist and European champion Vazgen Teyvanyan, European champion and world bronze medalist Arman Andreasyan, European bronze medalist and U23 world runner-up Manvel Khnzortsyan, U23 world runner-up Gevorg Tadevosyan, and youth European champion Knyaz Iboyan. The mentioned athletes claim that they were not provided with the reason for their last-minute exclusion from the tournament.

It is worth noting that the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of Armenia, the Armenian National Olympic Committee, and the Armenian Wrestling Federation have not provided clarifications regarding the emerging scandal.

“As the host country, Armenia has strictly adhered to all points of the international regulations of military sports, as a result of which the team representing the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia was selected. If other athletes were involved in the competition, it would have led to numerous speculations,” said Colonel Arman Davtyan, Head of the Physical Training and Sports Service of the Armed Forces General Staff in an interview with journalists.

He claims that the national team of the Armed Forces, which is represented at this championship, mainly consists of contract soldiers from the sports battalion, who are also athletes with quite high skills.

“I expect everyone's support for all our soldiers so that they can perform even better and win medals,” said the Head of the Physical Training and Sports Service of the Armed Forces General Staff.