By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Finalists of the 5th Run For Art International Photo Contest have displayed their works at the International Mugham Center. 

The photo exhibition is co-organized by the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee, the Culture Ministry and the Culio Onesti Foundation of the Italian National Olympic Academy.

The competition is intended for amateur and professional photographers aged 18-35, who can participate from any country in the world.

The contest offers a different theme for five different aspects: the number of categories symbolically represents the five Olympic rings.

Topics such as ethics, diversity, and inclusion in sports are explored with the help of universal tools such as sports and photography.

The Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan Farid Gayibov,  the Culture Minister Anar Karimov, Vice President of the National Olympic Committee  Chingiz Huseynzade, Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee  Azer Aliyev, representative of the Italian Olympic Committee, the member of the board of the Culio Onesti Foundation,  Italian former alpine skier, the Olympic medalist Claudia Giordani and others.

In her speech, the Olympic medalist Claudia Giordani praised the photo exhibition, which combines art and sports.

He also congratulated the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee on its 30th anniversary and wished it success in its future work.

Over these years, the National Olympic Committee has significantly contributed to the sport development in the country.

Much attention is being shown in Azerbaijan towards building and modernizing the sports infrastructure as well as promoting sport and a healthy lifestyle.

Azerbaijani sportsmen have successfully represented the country at the Olympic Games and achieved the highest results at international competitions.

Thanks to the National Olympic Committee, a number of the prestigious sports events including the first European Games (2015), Islamic Solidarity Games (2017) and the European Youth Olympic Festival (2019) were successfully held in Azerbaijan.

Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee Chingiz Huseynzade expressed his gratitude to the Culture Ministry  for the support in holding this competition.

The Culture Minister Anar Karimov said that the National Olympic Committee has passed a glorious and full of achievements over the 30-year period of fruitful activity.

He stressed that Azerbaijani sportsmen successfully represented the country in the international sports arena.

The Culture Minister noted the connection between sports and culture.

He underlined that the Culture Ministry will continue to support projects like the Run For Art International Photo Contest

The photos have been chosen by an international jury representing the arts, sports, and the media. Secretary-General of the National Olympic Committee Azer Aliyev is a member of the jury of the Run for Art international photo contest.

The first place in the Run for Art competition went to Tetsu Chi-Chingli (Taiwan) in the baseball and softball category), Gokhan Taner (Turkiye) in the karate category, Max Dunlap (USA) in the skateboarding category, Julia Kasu (France) in the rock climbing category, Reese Bates (Australia) in the category of surfing won first place.

Nariman Babayev (Azerbaijan) took third place in the photo "Play performed by young karatekas at the competition's opening." Amateur photographer Bayram Musayev (Azerbaijan) is one of the finalists in the skateboarding category.

Gokhan Taner, Julia Kasu, Nariman Babayev, and Bayram Musayev were awarded at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

The exhibition will stay open at the International Mugham Center until April 16.