page_title: Sport in Armenia
section_title: Other growing sports
hierarchical_section_title: Sport in Armenia / Other growing sports
caption_attribution_description: English: Lori, Armenia, Vanadzor ski resort.
context_page_description: A wide array of sports are played in Armenia. Popular Sports in Armenia include football, basketball, volleyball and hockey. Further, the country sends athletes to the Olympics in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming and shooting. Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Being a landlocked country, water sports can only be practiced on lakes, notably Lake Sevan. Competitively, Armenia has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Armenia is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the Union of European Football Associations, Federation of International Bandy, and International Ice Hockey Federation. It also hosts the Pan-Armenian Games.
context_section_description: The Armenian national ice hockey team is run by the Ice Hockey Federation of Armenia. They hosted the Division III, Group B tournament of the 2010 World Championships.
  In an attempt to promote figure skating and ice hockey in Armenia, the Irina Rodnina Figure Skating Centre was opened in Yerevan, in December 2015.
  Tennis is quite popular in Armenia. Sargis Sargsian is the best tennis player that represented the country in international level. He is a 3-time Olympian who won the 1997 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in singles and the 2003 Citi Open and 2003 BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy in doubles. Certain members of the Armenian diaspora like Andre Agassi, David Nalbandian and the Maleeva sisters have excelled in the sport.
  Rugby union in Armenia is among the growing sports. The Armenia national rugby union team has drawn much of its strength from the Armenian diaspora, and the fact that there are many Armenian rugby players in France. It has also drawn strength from the popularity of rugby in neighbouring Georgia.
  Skiing is also among the growing sports in Armenia. The mountainous nature of the country has allowed for the development of the sport, especially after the establishment of the Tsaghkadzor ski resort in 1986. In general, the skiing season in Armenia starts in mid-December and stretches well into March. There are ski resorts in Vanadzor and Jermuk as well.
  Field hockey is mainly popular in the town of Hrazdan. It is home to the only field hockey venue of Armenia, with a capacity of 1,500 seats. Hrazdan Hockey Club occasionally represents the country in several regional and international tournaments. The Soviet-Armenian player and 1980 Olympic bronze medalist Sos Hayrapetyan played for the club between 1988 and 1992.
  Windsurfing and kitesurfing are becoming popular in Armenia. It was first introduced by the initiative of the 2nd president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, who founded the Yerevan Yacht Club at the end of the 1990s. The sport is being regulated by the Professional Windsurfing and Kitesurfing Federation of Armenia. The competitions regularly take place at  the Yerevan Lake, Lyon Park of Yerevan and Lake Sevan.
  Equestrian sport in Armenia was founded in 1953 and is currently directed by the Federation of Equestrian sport of Armenia (FEA), globally recognized by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI). With the increasing interest towards the equestrian sport in Armenia, many equestrian centres were opened in Armenia, including the Hovik Hayrapetyan Equestrian Centre and Mirage equestrian centre in Yerevan, Ara and Aytsemnik equestrian centre in Aknalich (near Vagharshapat), and Ayrudzi horse-riding club in Ashtarak.
  Cycling as a sport is becoming popular among the young Armenian generation. The Yerevan Velodrome is an outdoor track cycling venue with international standard, opened in 2011 to replace the old venue of the Soviet days. Edgar Stepanyan of Armenia became champion of the scratch race in the 2015 junior UEC European Track Championships.
  Recently, MMA has gained massive popularity in Armenia, through the efforts of the Armfighting Professional Federation. It was founded in Yerevan in 2005 by Hayk Ghukasyan and currently runs several branches throughout the provinces of Armenia as well as Artsakh, with more than 2,000 athletes.
caption: Vanadzor ski resort
exif: {"Image Software": "Google", "Image ExifOffset": "46", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1067"}