DUSHANBE, July 31, 2008, Asia-Plus — Tajik Olympic competitors left for Beijing today morning.
According to the Tajik National Olympic Committee (NOC), to adapt to climatic conditions and time zone of Beijing Tajik athletes will hold the final team practice session in the Beijing Olympic village from July 31 to August 8.
On August 4, Tajik Ambassador to China, Mr. Rashid Olimov, will meet with Tajik athletes, and on August 5, the mayor of the Olympic village will welcome our Olympic competitors.
An official ceremony of opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games will be held on August 8, and along with presidents of other countries President Emomali Rahmon will attend the ceremony.
We will recall that fourteen Tajik athletes have qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Among them are Dilshod Nazarov (hammer throwing), Galina Mityayeva (track and field athletics), judo players Rasoul Boqiyev, Sherali Bozorov and Nematullo Asronqulov, free-style wrestlers Yusuf Abdusalomov and Vitaly Koryakin, boxers Anvar Yunusov, Jahon Qurbonov and Sherali Dostiyev, swimmers Yekaterina Izmaylova and Alisher Chingizov, female archer Albina Kamolitdinova, and weightlifter Nizom Sangov.
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, will be celebrated from August 8, 2008 to August 24, 2008. Some events will be held outside Beijing, namely football (in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Tianjin), equestrian (in Hong Kong) and sailing (Qingdao). This will be the third time the Olympics are held under the jurisdiction of 2 different NOCs (Hong Kong and mainland China compete separately).
The Olympic Games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games is titled “Dancing Beijing.”
