Serzh Sargsyan: "By shaking hands with Gul, I was not only fulfilling the presidential duty, but I also wanted to say that each of us has to stand his pain and loss with dignity"

It should be reminded that a football match between Armenia and Turkey, held on September 6 in the framework of the qualifying round of the 2010 World Championship in Yerevan, ended in a victory of Turkey by a score of 2:0.

"I was not disappointed with the result of the match between the national teams of Armenia and Turkey, but the defeat of our team was painful to me. When our team lost to Spain it was also painful, but one thing is to survive the pain and another is to stand it with dignity", Sargsyan told reporters.

Though this meeting was not of a high level, but it was a fair contest and everyone witnessed the victory of the strongest player", said the Armenian leader.

"On the whole, we should understand the current state of our footballers, as it turned our that our team held two games with the leading European teams, which occupy the first and the third places. Yes, our desire was great, but it did not come true", said Sargsyan.

The President considers that all normal people after each defeat should end the struggle congratulating the victor.

"I do not imagine otherwise. By shaking hands with Gul, I was not only fulfilling my duty as a hospitable president but I also wanted to say that each of us is bound to stand his pain and defeat with dignity", said he.

At the same time, he reminded that he did the same during the Olympic games in Beijing when an Azerbaijani fighter defeated the Armenian one and he congratulated Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

He said that in the result on the same day President of Azerbaijan congratulated him on the victory of the Armenian sportsman.

"If we attempt to justify our weakness each time and say that a referee was unjust, or the weather was windy and find other arguments, we will not be able to attain success. I am sure that most of our fans and people correctly assessed my step". said Sargsyan.

/Novosti-Armenia/