Mikheil Chkhenkeli, a candidate for the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, spoke before the Joint Committees of the Parliament of Georgia about the results, news and future plans achieved in the field of sports. Mikheil Chkhenkeli noted that despite the reality caused by the pandemic, in 2020, Georgian athletes won 145 medals on the international arena.

The Ministry has successfully overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic in the field of sports and together with relevant agencies, developed a professional sports protocol, on the basis of which the athletes have resumed training and preparatory efforts. This is an extremely important endeavor prior to the start of the Olympic year.

Evaluating last year's sporting events, Mikheil Chkhenkeli mentioned the participation of the national rugby team in the Eight Nations Cup tournament, which is a great recognition of Georgian rugby.

Furthermore, Mr. Chkhenkeli highlighted the growing dynamics in the field of mass sports in Georgia. For the first time in history, the Ministry received an EU grant to promote mass sports at the national level. In this regard, there is an important innovation in the legislative body - the Ministry developed a subsequent strategy for universal access and development of mass sports, which will be submitted to the Government of Georgia for approval. The strategy includes four main areas: preschool physical education, school sports and physical education, university sports and sports for all.

According to Mikheil Chkhenkeli, a draft law on physical education and sports has already been drafted and is ready to be submitted to the Parliament.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli: "It is important for us to increase universal access to sports. Despite the pandemic, the construction of large-scale sports infrastructure in Tbilisi and the regions has not stopped. In addition, construction of international standard sports fields, stadiums, water sports complexes, tennis courts, ice halls, academies and centers, sports universities and colleges across the country is planned.

In his speech, the candidate noted that under the current government, sports funding has increased by two and a half times. Owing to the decision of the Ministry, to support veteran athletes, special scholarships will be granted.

Parasport is a subject of special care for our government and for the first time in the history of Georgian sports, we now boast a Paralympic, World and European champions.”

Towards the end of his speech, Mikheil Chkhenkeli focused on the most important sporting event of the next year, the Tokyo Olympics. The Ministerial candidate noted that the Georgian Olympians have the full support of the Ministry and the government and wished them success and fruitful competition.