ArmInfo.Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan yesterday attended the final stage of the amateur table tennis tournament "Prime Minister's Cup of the Republic of Armenia" at the Ara Manukyan children's and youth sports school in the city of Charentsavan, Kotayk region of the republic, the press service of the RA government reports.
Like last year, the 2024 "Prime Minister's Cup of the Republic of Armenia" tournament will start with an amateur table tennis tournament. Nikol Pashinyan and Anna Hakobyan watched the final matches of the tournament. After the competition, the awards ceremony took place. Certificates of appreciation were presented before the award ceremony. This year, for the first time, the amateur table tennis tournament "Prime Minister's Cup of the Republic of Armenia" was held exclusively among schoolchildren. In general, about 45% of all schools in the republic were included in the pre-election stage of the amateur table tennis tournament "Prime Minister's Cup of the Republic of Armenia". More than 3,100 students of grades 5-9 and 10-12 from 626 state educational institutions in Yerevan and regions of Armenia took part in the competition. The winners and runners-up of the tournament were awarded diplomas from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, cups, medals, and cash prizes. Schools that took prizes were awarded: 1st place - 4 million drams, 2nd place - 2.5 million drams, 3rd place - 1.5 million drams. The physical education teachers of the winning teams were also awarded: 1st place - 700,000 drams, 2nd place - 500,000 drams, 3rd place - 300,000 drams. Members of the winning teams of the tournament were also awarded cash prizes: 1st place (4 participants) - 150,000 drams each, 2nd place (4 participants) - 100,000 drams each, 3rd place (4 participants) - 75,000 drams each.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia presented prizes to the winning students of grades 10-12 - students of Vanadzor Secondary School No. 5, Yerevan High School No. 170 named after Alexander Kemurjyan and Teghout High School. Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan presented awards to the winning students of grades 5-9 - students of Vanadzor basic school No. 23, Yerevan basic school No. 104, and Kajaran secondary school No. 2.
In his speech, Nikol Pashinyan noted that organizing a table tennis tournament only among schoolchildren was the right decision in the sense that it gave the tournament participants completely different emotions and mood. According to the head of government, the tournament is also important from the point of view of representing the work of teachers, because most of the victories of students are the result of their work.
The Prime Minister emphasized that these tournaments are important in the sense that they should be more and more connected with education and school, and added that this area needs to be consistently developed, also taking into account that through this a healthy lifestyle is promoted, and this important both in terms of healthcare, and in terms of education, and in terms of promoting the sporting ambitions of our country. The Prime Minister thanked the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports for carrying out organizational work at the proper level, as well as the Table Tennis Federation for holding the tournament fairly, freely and transparently.