Baku 2015 COO Clegg Believes Inaugural European Games Will Silence Doubters

Baku 2015 COO Simon Clegg "believes the inaugural European Games in June will silence the sceptics who have questioned the addition of the event to the continental sporting calendar," according to the PA. News at the weekend that this year’s European judo championships "will be incorporated into the event means 12 of the 16 Olympic sports on the programme will carry qualification opportunities for Rio." Former British Olympic Association CEO Clegg: "I think there was a degree of skepticism out there and we have addressed those skeptics by raising what is now a universal enthusiasm for this event across all the 50 European national Olympic committees." European Olympic Committees President Pat Hickey confirmed the organization "is already working on convincing a number of other governing bodies to incorporate their respective sports’ continental championships into the second Games in 2019" (PA, 2/23).