Published since 07.2002
Published on May 15, 2009
FOR THE LOVE OF SOCCER: ARMENIA’S WOMEN TEAM IN FIRST INTERNATIONAL ACTION ON HOME SOIL
- Armenian women soccer players were in their first-ever action at national level in front of a home crowd as they entertained Estonia and Kazakhstan in a friendly tournament this week. The tournament in the town of Abovyan, about 20 kilometers to the northeast of capital Yerevan, on May 12-16, was held under the auspices of European soccer’s governing body, UEFA. A year ago Armenia won a similar friendly tournament held in Macedonia. Samvel Adamyan, who has coached the team already for a year, says that victory was important for the national team as the country’s Football Federation started to pay more attention to women’s soccer after it. “After we returned from Macedonia the Federation gathered the national team, praised it, and each soccer player from the team was rewarded with a check for 50,000 drams (about $135). So they understood that a woman can also play soccer,” says Adamyan. He says that both men’s and women’s soccer declined in Armenia in the early 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. “Many talented players simply quit the sport during those ‘dark and cold’ years. Now an attempt is made to recover the loss gradually,” he says. In the last 20 years, a national soccer championship for women was held in Armenia only once – in 1998. The national team manager says because there are few women soccer players, it is particularly difficult to complete the Under-17 team, since Armenia’s Football Federation did not provide the necessary number of players. “We have approximately 60 female players who mainly play at the ‘College’ and ‘Banants’ clubs. On the basis of these clubs we select players in three groups – U-17, U-19, and the main national team. This means that we have no opportunity for selection,” says Adamyan. Adamyan believes that Armenian women soccer players’ mentality may be a serious obstacle, too. “For many years they participated in different tournaments just for the sake of playing and at least for avoiding crushing defeats. I’ve worked with them for a year, and we have not managed to overcome that psychological barrier entirely yet. It is ten times harder to work with women than with men,” Adamyan says. Still, the head coach says they have quite good players involved in the national team. Its two forwards, Gayane Kostanyan and Christine Alexanyan, have even been purchased by a Lebanese soccer club. To promote women’s soccer in Armenia, the Football Federation pays a salary of 50,000 drams (about $135) to coaches who can manage to gather women’s teams. As of this year, eight such teams have been recruited in different provinces of the country. Currently Armenia’s women’s national team hold their trainings on FC Banants’s pitch. The ladies have only one day a week free from training. “When I became the head coach I thought that they needed permanent trainings to register good results. Previously they used to participate in the trainings only three or four days a week. The players of the ‘College’ Club trained indoors, they did not even have a field,” says Adamyan. The team whose average age is 20 are currently in intensive training for the World Cup qualifying games commencing in September. Starting this year, women will play their qualifying matches on a ‘home and away basis’, just as it is in men’s soccer. Armenia’s opponents in the qualifying round are Italy, Finland, Slovenia and Portugal. “We have quite strong opponents who have higher ratings and level of performance. However, only the matches with strong opponents can raise the level of our soccer players. We are also glad that from now on we will also have a chance to play at home,” says Adamyan. Women players say soccer has great importance for them. National team defender Armine Khachatryan, 22, says their participation in World Cup qualifying games is very obliging. She says she went in for karate and soccer simultaneously when she was seven. But as she grew up, she realized that she loved soccer more and decided on this sport. Another member of the national team, 17-year-old Mariam Torgomyan, remembers that she used to get surprised seeing people who liked watching soccer on TV. “I wondered how possible that was to watch it. I used to attend a theatre group, when I saw an announcement at our school inviting people to enlist for soccer team training. I decided to give it a try, and now I am very pleased that I came here,” says Mariam. National team members say there are many girls who want to go in for soccer, but their parents are against. “There is a widespread viewpoint that soccer spoils a girl’s body structure, but it is just the opposite,” says Armine Tadevosyan, who has played soccer already for nine years. “In fact by playing soccer a girl gets a sportier and more beautiful body,” the 22-year-old defender of the national team adds.
- Siranuysh Gevorgyan
Headlines for May 15, 2009
FAMOUS ARMENIAN ART CRITIC DIES AT 77
Karine Ionesyan
A famous Armenian art critic who was the founder of Yerevan’s Museum of Contemporary Arts, founder and director general of the National Art Center of Armenia Henrik Igityan passed away on May 11, at the ...OSCE, MINSK GROUP TROIKA ISSUE STATEMENTS ON KARABAKH CEASEFIRE ANNIVERSARY
International mediators brokering a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute have called on the parties to continue to abide by the ceasefire signed exactly 15 years ago and expressed a hope that new ...SISTER, HERE WE GO!: ARMENIA’S INGA & ANUSH REACH EUROVISION 2009 FINALS IN MOSCOW
Suren Musayelyan
In a well-received appearance on stage in Moscow Armenia’s Inga and Anush Arshakyans have earned the right to perform in the finals of the Eurovision-2009 Song Contest coming Saturday. The sisters made ...FORMERLY DASHNAK-HELD TOP MINISTERIAL POSTS DISTRIBUTED AMONG COALITION PARTIES
Gayane Mkrtchyan 2
This week Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan signed decrees appointing new members of government to fill in the ministerial position left vacant after the decision of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation ...SOCCER: PYUNIK WINS ARMENIA CUP WITH LATE GOAL AWARDED BY ITALIAN REF
Suren Musayelyan
Good chest control by a Pyunik midfielder and a ‘touch of class’ from the Italian referee proved equally critical in deciding the winner of the Armenian soccer Cup final on Saturday. On a night of equal ...ARMENIAN LEADER URGES ENTREPRENEURS TO BE ‘MORE AGGRESSIVE’ IN INTRODUCING NEW TECHNOLOGIES
5
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has appealed to the country’s leading businessmen to assist in government efforts aimed at withstanding the ongoing crisis. Addressing the congress of Armenia’s Union ...EXPLOSION AND FIRE AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN ARMENIA
Two explosions within a space of about five minutes rocked a sprawling chemical plant in southern Yerevan at about 6.40 pm Thursday. The explosions were followed by a huge fire at a chloroprene production ...SPORT: ARARAT IN TROUBLE OVER LICENSE FOR EUROPE LEAGUE
Suren Musayelyan
Soccer Last season’s Armenian premier league runner-up FC Ararat is unlikely to represent the country in the upcoming Europe League, a tournament that comes to replace the former UEFA Cup, after this ...FOR THE LOVE OF SOCCER: ARMENIA’S WOMEN TEAM IN FIRST INTERNATIONAL ACTION ON HOME SOIL
Siranuysh GevorgyanArmenian women soccer players were in their first-ever action at national level in front of a home crowd as they entertained Estonia and Kazakhstan in a friendly tournament this week. The tournament ...FIFTH ESTATE: ARMENIAN BLOGGERS GET READY FOR POLITICAL CAMPAIGN
Sara Khojoyan
On the threshold of municipal assembly elections in the capital Yerevan (May 31), Armenian bloggers are actively addressing the campaign and forthcoming vote in their blogs. Still, many of them say blogs ...WEATHERING THE STORM: THE PRESSURE OF POVERTY
In a significant new assessment of Armenia’s mounting economic troubles, the head of the World Bank in Armenia warned on May 13 that the country’s economic crisis will lead to a sharp rise in national ...KARABAKH TALKS: NEXT STOP IN ST. PETERSBURG
Naira Hayrumyan
The fourth meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Prague on May 7 did not result in a tangible breakthrough, with the standpoints of the two parties remaining diametrically opposite. ...FORUM FOR SURVIVAL: PF-A TO HOST DISCUSSIONS ON THE FINANCIAL “STORM”
Policy Forum Armenia has announced a “high level” economic forum to be held May 25 in Yerevan that will bring together present and past prime ministers for a panel discussion, as well as representatives ...LESSONS FROM THE GRAVE: ANCIENT JEWISH CEMETERY MARKS LITTLE-KNOWN TIME IN ARMENIAN HISTORY
John Hughes
A little known piece of Armenian history received high-profile attention this week, when dignitaries, villagers and activists for cultural awareness gathered at an old cemetery in the village of Yeghegis, ...SUSPENDED RELIEF: SHUSHI BENEVOLENT FUND PUTS ITS PROJECTS ON HOLD
Gayane Mkrtchyan
Only three years ago, in an interview with ArmeniaNow, Head of the ‘Shushi’ Benevolent Fund Bakur Karapetyan said that only the glorious past of Shushi is enough to make it Armenians’ cultural center. ...ABLE FOR COMMUNICATION: CENTER IN VANADZOR HELPS MENTALLY DISABLED CHILDREN
Naira Bulghadaryan
For the five-year-old Sona two days a week are the favorite ones - the days she and her mother visit Vanadzor’s Health and Medical-Social Rehabilitation Center of the ‘Arabkir’ Medical Complex for Children. ...NAIRIT FALLOUT: DEATH TOLL IN RUBBER PLANT BLAST RISES TO FOUR AMID MOUNTING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Karine Ionesyan
The death toll in serious explosions and fire at Armenia’s sprawling chemical plant that occurred Thursday late afternoon has risen to four, according to the information confirmed by the country’s Ministry ...ERDOGAN’S STATEMENTS IN BAKU DRAW REACTION FROM YEREVAN
1
Official Yerevan has responded to the recent statements made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who again linked Armenian-Turkish normalization with Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan over ...WHO IS WHO: MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS SET STAGE FOR ANOTHER ‘BATTLE’ OF CURRENT AND FORMER ELITES
Aris Ghazinyan
Municipal assembly elections in Yerevan scheduled for May 31 will give the capital city an elected mayor for the first time in nearly two decades. The city has had nine president-appointed mayors since ...FISTFIGHT FOR VOTES: VIOLENCE MARS SECOND WEEK OF CAMPAIGN IN YEREVAN ELECTIONS
Gayane Abrahamyan
Having hardly overcome the bitter consequences and memories of the previous election, Yerevan officially entered a new stage of the pre-election whirlpool on May 2, the campaign dynamics of which -- marked ...ARMENIA ON FOREIGN PRESS PAGES
(Weekly Digest - May 9-15) Turkish Today’s Zaman quotes the chairman of the Kars Chamber of Industry and Commerce as reiterating the structure’s support for Turkish-Armenian normalization and the desire ...
Most read news (last 7 days)
ANOTHER ATTACK: POPULAR TV SHOW ANCHOR IN ARMENIA AMBUSHED AND BEATEN
Armine Grigoryan
FOR THE LOVE OF SOCCER: ARMENIA’S WOMEN TEAM IN FIRST INTERNATIONAL ACTION ON HOME SOIL
Siranuysh GevorgyanFORUM FOR SURVIVAL: PF-A TO HOST DISCUSSIONS ON THE FINANCIAL “STORM”
“SPARTACUS” ON STAGE: A WORLD FAMOUS BALLET COMES TO YEREVAN AGAIN
Karine IonesyanFAMOUS ARMENIAN ART CRITIC DIES AT 77
Karine IonesyanEXPLOSION AND FIRE AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN ARMENIA
ARMENIAN LEADER URGES ENTREPRENEURS TO BE ‘MORE AGGRESSIVE’ IN INTRODUCING NEW TECHNOLOGIES
SISTER, HERE WE GO!: ARMENIA’S INGA & ANUSH REACH EUROVISION 2009 FINALS IN MOSCOW
Suren Musayelyan‘NOT FREE’: WESTERN WATCHDOG FINDS ARMENIA’S LACK OF PRESS FREEDOM AGAIN
Suren MusayelyanARMENIA PULLS OUT OF NATO DRILL IN GEORGIA
© AUA
Today in Armenian history- 1827 Harootyoon Alamdaryan exhorts the soldiers before their departure for the front.
- 1913 Death of Qaseem, author of moralistic, populist novels and editor of the "Soorhandak" and "Manzoomee Efkeestee" papers.
- 1916 Death of freedom-fighter and hero Qerree.
- 1918 The Turkish army re-occupies Alexandropol (Gyoomree).
- 1920 Death of actor Ovee Sevoomyan.
- 1930 Death of the humanist Dr. Friedhof Nansen. His internationally recognized "Nansen Passport" saved the lives of many stateless refugees.
- 1946 Death of Grigor Avetyan (actor) in Yerevan. He was born in 1870.
Forum most active discussions
- Դավադրություն Հայաստանի Դեմ
- Անկախության 20-ամյակ
- Մեր սիրելի երգերը
- Հանապազօրյա Նավթը և Հայաստանի Աշխարհաքաղաքական Դիրքը
- Armenians and 2011 OSCAR
- Turks and Germans: Partners in Crime and Allies in Court
- Վերջ ապագիտական դեզինֆորմացիային
- Իսկ ե՞րբ մենք պիտի ունենանք մե՛ր Վրեժի Կտակարանը
- 2011 թվականը
- L’ARMENIE OCCIDENTALE ET LE DROIT INTERNATIONAL, AUJOURD’HUI !
ARMENIAN NEWS
INTERACTIVE NEWS
INFORMATION
MY ARMTOWN
How to quit smoking?
How to write in Armenian on Windows XP?
All materials published on this website are taken from open sources and are copyrighted by their respective owners. You cannot reproduce or copy any materials published on armtown.com without written consent of original copyright holder. If you want to remove any material, please send us an email with proof of ownership/copyright and your material will be removed immediately. All materials published for information purposes only.