Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Uzbekistan Rustam Shaabdurahmonov held talks with President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) of Russia Stanislav Pozdnyakov during a working visit to Moscow.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov, first of all, thanked Rustam Shaabdurahmonov for the participation of the Uzbek delegation in the work of the International Forum of Young Olympians, which was held in Moscow on 1 June.

“IOC President Thomas Bach was impressed by the scale and level of organization of this forum, highlighting the connecting role of the Russian Olympic Committee for NOCs of all countries and, above all, for our historical neighbors, including Uzbekistan,” the president of the ROC said.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov spoke about the pilot educational program of the ROC and the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU), inviting Uzbek colleagues to take an active part in it.

- More than 50 national Olympic committees are now participating in various RIOU projects that are supported by the IOC. This year we launched a pilot program to improve the qualifications of the coaching staff, which skiers and skaters have already mastered. We invite to cooperation colleagues from fraternal NOCs. The modern world seeks, through sport and the Olympic movement, to erase borders. We are ready to open the doors to our friends and partners in order to find the necessary points of contact,” said Stanislav Pozdnyakov.

The President of the ROC expressed the hope that today’s meeting will further strengthen the ties between the NOCs of Russia and Uzbekistan and will contribute to the successful performance of the Olympic teams of the two countries at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

- Today you visited the OCR Innovation Center, which became the legacy of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Sport of the highest achievements widely uses modern technologies to obtain the necessary result. OCD has a large scientific base in the field of training athletes in difficult climatic and geographical conditions and is ready to share with you these developments, - Stanislav Pozdnyakov added.

Rustam Shaabdurahmonov, for whom the visit to Moscow was the first official trip after being elected head of the national Olympic committee of Uzbekistan, noted the importance of continuing cooperation established by the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan Vladimir Putin and Shavkat Merziyoyev.

- Now we are seeing a dynamic development of relations between our countries in matters of politics and economics. Our new President Shavkat Merziyoyev is well versed in sports, which allows us to expand cooperation in this area and share our accumulated experience with colleagues from other countries.

“In some sports we have problems with the preparation of the coaching staff and not enough high rates of athletes. We count on your support and are ready to support ROC international initiatives,” Rustam Shaabdurahmonov said.

At the end of the meeting, Stanislav Pozdnyakov invited the delegation of Uzbekistan to Moscow to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1980 Olympic Games, which will be held on July 4, 2020 in Luzhniki.

Then the parties exchanged souvenirs. Stanislav Pozdnyakov handed over to his colleague the mascots of the Russian Olympic team Kota hat and earflaps and Matryoshka Bear doll, while Rustam Shaabdurahmonov presented the handmade wall carpet from Samarkand, which took more than six months to make, to the President of the ROC.

“This relic will take a worthy place in the Olympic Museum that we are creating,” Stanislav Pozdnyakov noted.

In addition, the guests from Uzbekistan visited the ROC Innovation Center and met with its CEO Sergey Zotkin.

The parties discussed the prospects for cooperation in such areas as conducting comprehensive testing, developing nutrition programs and helping to adapt the climate-geographic adaptation of athletes from Uzbekistan who are preparing to play at the Olympics 2020, 2022 and 2024.

“In many sports, our athletes have not yet won Olympic licenses to participate in the Games 2020,” Rustam Shaabdurahmonov said. - Most of all we are interested in the development of boxing, wrestling, karate and judo. We have far-reaching plans to create a science center and several high-altitude training bases. Uzbekistan is ready to become a partner of the ROC Innovation Center, at least for the next three Olympic cycles.

“We have all the opportunities to increase the competitiveness of your Olympians,” said Sergey Zotkin. - Games in Tokyo will be held at extremely high temperatures and humidity, which must be considered when drawing up a training plan. Our research teams are currently working in the Japanese capital. We are ready to share the collected information and conduct a series of educational seminars for your specialists.

The presentation of the project “Adaptation” was made by the deputy head of the Main Directorate for ensuring participation in Olympic sports events of the ROC, Alexander Grushin.

- For the first time such issues were discussed in 1968 at the Olympic Games in Mexico City, - said the expert. - Since then, we accumulate and summarize the experience gained over the years. The process of adaptation is not only observing the athlete’s body, but also familiarity with the sports infrastructure, food and weather in the Olympic capital. Representatives of sports that took part in our project, were able to significantly improve their results. Until September 2019, athletes from nine all-Russian sports federations will hold adaptation camps in Tokyo.

One of the priorities of the NOC of Uzbekistan is the development of mass sports. Specialists from the ROC Innovation Center presented an active school program to foreign colleagues aimed at involving children in regular physical education.

- The events of the Olympic Day in our country were visited by 2.5 million people. Stop at this we are not going to. It is necessary to show the children that a healthy lifestyle can be not only beneficial, but also interesting, ”Rustam Shaabdurahmonov emphasized.