Sport in Armenia
A wide array of sports are played in Armenia. Popular sports in Armenia include football, basketball, volleyball, and ice 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 (UEFA), Federation of International Bandy (FIB), International School Sport Federation, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), among others. It also hosts the Pan-Armenian Games. Olympics as part of the USSR. Prior to 1992, Armenians would participate in the Olympics representing the USSR, and in 1992 they were part of the Unified Team. As part of the Soviet Union, Armenia was very successful, winning plenty of medals and helping the USSR win the medal standings at the Olympics on numerous occasions. The first medal won by an Armenian in  modern Olympic history was by Hrant Shahinyan (sometimes spelled as Grant Shaginyan), who won two golds and two silvers in gymnastics at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. To highlight the level of success of Armenians in the Olympics, Shahinyan was quoted as saying: Armenia contributed several more notable gymnasts to the powerful Soviet gymnastics team, including world and Olympic champions Albert Azaryan, Eduard Azaryan and Artur Akopyan. Olympics after Independence. Armenia first participated at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, under a unified CIS team, where it was very successful. Despite only having five athletes Armenians won 4 medals . Hrachya Petikyan won gold in sharp shooting, Israel Militosyan won gold in weightlifting, and in wrestling Mnatsakan Iskandaryan won gold and Alfred Ter-Mkrtychyan won silver. Since the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Armenia has participated as an independent nation. Armenia participates in the Summer Olympic Games in boxing, fencing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming, and sharp shooting. It also participates in the Winter Olympic Games in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and figure skating. Popular sports. Football. Football is the most popular sport in Armenia. Armenia used to play as part of the USSR national  football team at the international level. Their most successful team was Yerevan's FC Ararat, which had claimed Soviet championship in the 1973, and had also gone to post home victory against FC Bayern Munich in the 1974–75 European Cup. Armenia played as part of the USSR until 1992, when the Armenian national football team played their first official match, representing solely Armenia, against Moldova. The national team is controlled by the Football Federation of Armenia. The Armenian Premier League is the top football competition in Armenia. The league currently consists of eight teams, and relegates to the Armenian First  League. Over the years, the league has evolved from a small competition, consisting of only eight teams to two separate divisions. Armenia also has many football venues, such as the Hrazdan Stadium and Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium. Nikita Simonyan was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning Soviet Union national football team at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a four-time Soviet Top League and two-time Soviet Cup winner playing for FC Spartak Moscow. Simonyan also became the Soviet Top League top goalscorer three times. He also holds the record for most league goals scored for Spartak Moscow  at 133. After retiring from football, he became the head coach of Spartak and later became the manager of both Spartak and FC Ararat Yerevan. Both teams won the Soviet Top League under Simonyan's management. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is the current Captain of the Armenian national football team and the team's star player. Mkhitaryan won the Armenian Premier League four times and the Armenian Supercup twice as a player for FC Pyunik. He has also been given the Armenian Footballer of the Year award nine times. As of 8 September 2019, Mkhitaryan is the top goalscorer of all time  for the Armenian national team with 29 goals. Many other Armenian players have played in European domestic leagues such as Arthur Petrosyan, Sargis Hovsepyan, Roman Berezovsky, Edgar Manucharyan, Yura Movsisyan and many others. Many Armenian diaspora footballers represented their country of birth, with the most notable players including Youri Djorkaeff and Alain Boghossian who were both part of the winning French team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Andranik Eskandarian and Andranik Teymourian of Iran, Alecko Eskandarian of the United States, Kevork Mardikian and Mardik Mardikian of Syria, Wartan Ghazarian and Agop Donabidian of Lebanon, etc. Chess. Chess remains the  most popular mind sport in Armenia as well as among the most popular sports in general. It is widely played in Armenia, and in the Armenian diaspora, where the Armenian schools encourage it as a curricular activity. Ethnic Armenian chess players have been very successful on the international chess scene. Notable chess players of Armenia include Tigran Petrosian, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Sergei Movsesian and Rafael Vaganian. The legendary chess player Garry Kasparov is of Armenian descent. Armenia has won the European Team Chess Championship in both the men (1999) and women (2003) sections. The 1999 men team  was made up of Smbat Lputian, Artashes Minasian, Ashot Anastasian, Levon Aronian and Arshak Petrosian. The 2003 women team was made up of Elina Danielian, Lilit Mkrtchian and Nelly Aginian. Levon Aronian won the Chess World Cup in 2005. In 2006, the Armenian Chess Team of Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Karen Asrian, Artashes Minasian, and Smbat Lputian won the Chess Olympiad in Turin. Two years later, Armenia successfully defended their Olympiad title with a second consecutive win in Dresden, the team being made up of Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran L. Petrosian and Artashes Minasian. Armenia  won the World Team Chess Championship in 2011, against the top ten teams of the world, including Russia and China. Members of the Armenian chess team were Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian and Robert Hovhannisyan. The Armenian Chess Team won the Olympiad title for a third time in 2012 at the Istanbul-hosted Chess Olympiad. The team consisted of Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian and Tigran L. Petrosian. Armenia currently ranks 5th on the all-time Chess Olympiad medal table despite only competing since 1992. The nation was also a contributing power to the  still #1 ranked Soviet Union. Tigran Petrosian himself is still ranked #1 for the best individual results in the open section. Basketball. Despite the popularity of basketball in Armenia, the country's national team only recently made headlines internationally through winning the 2016 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries. Armenia's best basketball players all play outside of the country, mostly in the United States and Russia. The first ever season of the professional domestic basketball competition of Armenia known as "Basketball League A" was launched in October 2017 with 7 participating teams, representing the cities of Yerevan (4 teams ), Gyumri, Artik and Stepanakert. Wrestling. Wrestling has been a successful sport in the Olympics for Armenia. Half of the twelve Armenian Olympic medalists and were wrestlers. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Armen Nazaryan won the gold in the Men's Greco-Roman Flyweight (52 kg) category, and Armen Mkrtchyan won the silver in Men's Freestyle Paperweight (48 kg) category, securing Armenia's first two medals in its modern Olympic history. With Armenia's two gold medalists, Armen Nazaryan (1996) and Artur Aleksanyan (2016), and three silver medalists, Armen Mkrtchyan (1996), Tigran Martirosyan (2008), and Arsen Julfalakyan (2012 ), wrestling is Armenia's most successful Olympic sport. More than half of Armenia's Olympic medals have come from wrestling. Armenia hosted the 2010 FILA Wrestling World Cup. The Armenian wrestling team came in third place overall and Armenian wrestlers individually won three of the seven gold medals. Traditional Armenian wrestling is called "kokh", and practiced in traditional garb; it was one of the influences included in the Soviet combat sport of sambo, which is also very popular. Sambo in Armenia is regulated by the Sambo Federation of Armenia. Weightlifting. Weightlifting has also been a successful sport for Armenia in  the Olympics, with Arsen Melikyan winning the bronze medal in Men's middleweight (77 kg) category at the 2000 Summer Olympics, which was the independent Republic of Armenia's first Olympic medal in weightlifting. In April 2007, the Armenian national team won the 2007 European Championships in Strasbourg, with 10 gold medals. Nazik Avdalyan and Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan both became World Weightlifting Champions in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Before the establishment of an independent Armenia, Armenian weightlifters like Yurik Sarkisyan, Oksen Mirzoyan and Yurik Vardanyan competed for the Soviet Union and were very successful. Vardanyan won the gold medal at  the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve 400 point totals in the 82.5 kg weight category. He earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977, and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. Yurik Vardanyan, Yurik Sarkisian and Oksen Mirzoyan set multiple world records during their distinguished careers. Boxing. Boxing is a popular sport in Armenia. The country has regularly sent competitors to the Olympics, but met with little success. The sport is regulated by the Armenian Boxing Federation. Though Armenia has had little success in amateur boxing, the country  has still produced an Olympic medalist, Hrachik Javakhyan, and a World Champion, Nshan Munchyan. Armenian boxers have had more success in professional boxing. Vic Darchinyan and Arthur Abraham have both won world titles in different weight divisions. Susi Kentikian has also won world titles in women's boxing. Khoren Gevor is a four-time world title challenger. Karapet Karapetyan was long time Netherlands Champion in kickboxing and came far in boxing but stopped to continue as a lawyer. Vanes Martirosyan and Karo Muratyan are both rising contenders. Artistic gymnastics. Armenia has produced many Olympic champions in artistic gymnastics during the  Soviet days, such as Hrant Shahinyan, Albert Azaryan and Eduard Azaryan. The success of the Armenian gymnasts in the Olympic competitions has greatly contributed in the popularity of the sport. Thus, many prominent competitors represent the country in the European and World championships, including Artur Davtyan and Harutyun Merdinyan. The capital Yerevan has many state-owned schools of artistic gymnastics, including the Albert Azaryan School opened in 1964 and the Hrant Shahinyan School opened in 1965. Futsal. Futsal is very popular in Armenia. Many companies as well as universities have their own teams who participate in the Futsal League of  Armenia. Currently, 8 teams take part in the Armenian futsal league, representing the cities of Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Kapan and Alaverdi. The Mika Sports Arena of Yerevan is the home of the Armenia national futsal team. Organizations. Homenetmen and AGBU are the two biggest organizations that are devoted to athletics among Armenians. They, notably Homenetmen, have opened chapters all across the globe, wherever an Armenian community is present. Homenetmen organizes the Pan-Homenetmen Games each year, when the organization's members gather in a host city to play friendly matches against each other in various sports such as football, basketball , athletics, ice hockey, and volleyball. The Armenian Student Sports Federation promotes student's sports and organizes national and international level student sporting activities and competitions. Modern rebuilding efforts. As of the 2016 state budget, the government of Armenia allocates around US$3.83 million annually for sports, and gives it to the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, the body that determines which programs should benefit from the funds. Due to the lack of success lately on the international level, in recent years, Armenia has rebuilt 16 Soviet-era sports schools and furnished them with new equipment for a total cost  of $1.9 million. The rebuilding of the regional schools was financed by the Armenian government. About $9.3 million has been invested in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor to improve the winter sports infrastructure, because of dismal performances at recent winter sports events. In 2005, a cycling center was opened in Yerevan, with the aim of helping produce world class Armenian cyclists. The government has also promised a cash reward of $700,000 to Armenians who win a gold medal at the Olympics. Rector of the Yerevan State Institute of Physical Culture Vahram Arakelian believes that Armenia will produce  Olympic champions in 2016, because by that time “the work of new coaches and their influence on their trainees will be seen.” The Football Federation of Armenia has opened 3 modern football training academies in Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor, in 2010, 2014, and 2016 respectively.