On December 30, 2014, the government of Georgia approved a 4-year state program for the development of chess. The long-term contract was financed with 38 million GEL. This amount of money caused many questions in the Georgian society.
“World Sport” met Levan Kipiani, minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, and talked to him about the mentioned issue. The minister explained why chess is priority at this moment.
Levan Kipiani: “In Georgia many people did not consider chess sport. We have chess history of many years and interest toward this sport is huge. This amount of money is distributed on 4-year program. Important tournaments will be held in 2018 and these tournaments require expenses. When Mrs. Nona achieved important success, interest toward chess has increased and finally, our level has risen so much that we are holding world tournaments.
It will be good if other sports will also present 4-year programs. We will discuss them and try to support any sport. People are saying why chess and not other sport. In 2012 we increased finances for rugby and people criticized us. Finally, we have a good result in rugby. Any sport can become priority. In 2015 funding of sports federations has increased with 20-30% and we will continue this process, of course, if there is a result.
- Football is the most popular topic for the society. In 2014 and 2015 football was financed with 7 million GEL. What does the government plan for the development of this sport?
- Sports federations must discuss projects. The government will discuss the projects presented by them and will finance them. Football is a painful issue for me and my goal is to solve problems in this sport. Presidential elections are planned in the Football Federation. Whoever comes, he must make right analysis and make a plan. The government must know what to finance.
It is good that Tbilisi will hold Youth Olympic Festival. The developed infrastructural base will allow us to hold international tournaments in the capital city. I appeal the sport society for the consolidation.
Each year the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia is financed with 70 million GEL. About 40 sports and various subsidiaries are financed with this money.
Besides football, we have increased funding of the most active sports of Georgia. Like the previous year, this year football has 7-million GEL budget.
Here is the list which shows how much money was spent on different sports last year and budget for 2015
Football - 2014 - 7 million, 2015 - 7 million
Basketball - 2014 - 2.5; 2015 - 7
Rugby - 2014 - 10.5; 2015 - 12.5
Wrestling - 2014 - 2; 2015 - 2.5
Judo - 2014 - 2; 2015 - 2.3
Chess - 2014 - 1.25; 2015 - 2
Handball - 2014 - 0.5; 2015 - 1
Paralympic sports - 2014 - 0.2; 2015 - 0.35
Fencing - 2014 - 0.24; 2015 - 0.35
Water polo - 2014 - 1.35; 2015 - 1.8
Georgian wrestling - 2014 - 0.21; 2015 - 0.25
Other sports - 2015 - 7.65
Mass sport - 2015 - 1.85
