Belarus’ Sports Minister: we are tasked to ensure athletes' results do not degrade during this sanctions period

Following the meeting on certain issues of sports development under sanctions, the Minister of Sports and Tourism, Sergei Kovalchuk, said the President’s criticism was fair, while also commenting on the main tasks set by Aleksandr Lukashenko for the sports industry

“The task is to ensure that the athletes' results do not degrade during this sanctions period, so that they have competitive practice, so that these tournaments are competitive, so that as many of our athletes as possible participate in them, so that we see the reserve, so that we have a system built up and growing qualifications of our coaches. All these topics were discussed at the meeting. The Head of State gave instructions on the development of certain areas – primarily, regarding our joint actions with the Russian side, loading of sports facilities, holding competitions at a high level (including II CIS Games), training coaching personnel, and other issues,” Mr. Kovalchuk said.

As for the draft decree On Measures to Stimulate the Achievement of High Sports Results, Mr. Kovalchuk informed that the President had supported it. Moreover, there was a clear message: payments should correspond to the results shown.

“Conceptually, the decree has been supported. Its main point is that, at the competitions held with participation of our athletes in Russia, our sportsmen will enjoy financial incentives if they show high results. If Anastasia Maslova throws a hammer at 74m (the European champion level), then she should receive an appropriate reward. If Tatiana Kholodovich throws a javelin at 66m (the level of a European champion and second place at the World Championship), then the reward should be worthy of this result,” the Minister of Sports and Tourism noted.