Yesterday heads of sports federations and representatives of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and Sports Committee were to hold a meeting at hotel “Radisson”.
Finally, the heads of 29 federations, Levan Kipiani, minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, and other officials of the Ministry attended the meeting. The Parliamentary Committee refused to attend the meeting. The MPs sent a letter to the federations and explained why the committee held a meeting with Levan Kipiani behind a closed door.
Gia Nizharadze, president of the Georgian Rugby Union, headed the meeting. The meeting was open for media for the first minutes. According to Nizharadze, the federations must know about problems. The president of the Rugby Union also noted there must not be domestic controversy and the sports federations must know everything about the meeting between the Ministry and the Committee.
The format of the meeting was the following: Levan Kipiani would answer questions of the federations. Then, the minister would leave the hall and the sports federations would make a decision.
Levan Kipiani made a comment after answering the questions of the sports federations: “I want to thank representatives of all federations who have come here today. It is a pity that MPs of Sports Committee did not attend this meeting. We explained the federations why there was controversy in the sports family. We are ready to collaborate with everybody”.
After the meeting Mikheil Gabrichidze, president of the Georgian Basketball Federation, called this meeting one of the lessons of democracy in the Georgian sport. He noted the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs needs to work hard in order to develop sport.
Davit Kevkhishvili, president of the Judo Federation, summarized the work of the Ministry positively and noted the Committee is not adequate in making a decision.
The final report shows that the representatives of 29 sports federations are supporting Levan Kipiani and the Ministry. The federations called a negative evaluation of the activities of the Ministry by the Sports and Youth Affairs Committees inadequate and unfair.
