On August 13, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting with athletes and coaches who participated in the XXXII Summer Olympic Games.
During his speech, the head of state spoke about corruption in sports.
“The level of national championships has dropped. The most alarming thing is the corruption case in this sphere. For example, it has become commonplace to apply for participation in the republican level of the competition of the same athletes of certain categories without holding regional contests. Therefore, there are very few strong athletes at our championships and there is almost no competition. In addition, teams from the regions are underrepresented in team sports tournaments. And federations are content with holding championships with the participation of only 4-5 teams. So, in 2021, 4 teams took part in the championships of Uzbekistan in basketball and water polo,” he said.
The President said that for the successful implementation of tasks in the field of sports, first of all, it is necessary to further improve public administration in the field.
The Prime Minister was instructed to submit a draft resolution on revising the structure of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and improving the system of holding competitions in team sports within a month.
“It is necessary to fully digitalize the work on the identification, selection of talented young athletes in the regions and the organization of the championships of Uzbekistan. This, in turn, will serve to create a fair system of attracting athletes to national teams in Olympic sports,” Mirziyoyev concluded.
