Belarus President attends Snow Sniper junior biathlon finals

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  • 4:39

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko attended the Snow Sniper junior biathlon finals and took part in the awards ceremony on 4 March.

The head of state also took part in a biathlon race together with the country’s well-known Olympians.

After the awards ceremony the President talked to mass media representatives. First of all, he commented on the performance of his youngest son Nikolai in the Snow Sniper competitions. The head of state noted that Nikolai got a bit sick but still decided to participate in the competitions. “His result today is 2.5-3 minutes worse than during the previous stage. But it is OK. We were thinking of withdrawing, but he said he would take part in the event because he promised to the team. Well done, I would say!” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President added that his son is not planning to take up biathlon or ice hockey professionally. “I do not persuade him. He is still quite young. He did very well in swimming but he rejected this sport saying that it was boring. He is also good at skiing because he is tall. He does not want this sport either, as it is also boring for him. He likes ice hockey most of all. I do not know what sport he will do. I just teach him the things I can do,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Speaking about the performance of Belarusian athletes at the 2018 Olympic Games, the head of state said that despite the fact that Belarusian athletes won a number of medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics, they could have shown better results, especially in biathlon and freestyle skiing. “In the near future I will have a serious discussion of the situation with the heads of the winter sports federations, chairpersons of the supervisory councils headed by generals and ministers,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the President, coaches failed to prepare athletes for the Olympics. “Everything should be done in proper time in order to perform well. All this happened because of the coaches’ weak work and no control from the sports federations,” the head of state said.

Special attention will be attached to the men’s biathlon team that failed to show good results in PyeongChang.