European Games not under threat from new championships - Clegg

By Karolos Grohmann (Reuters) - The future of the European Games will not be threatened by a recently-announced European sports championships, with the 2015 Baku Games having done "phenomenal" preparation for the event to be established, Games chief Simon Clegg said on Thursday. The Azeri capital will host Europe's first continental multi-sport event from June 12-28 and Clegg said the recently-announced 2018 European sports championships would prove no threat to the next edition of the Games in 2019. "I do not feel any additional pressure because of that decision," Clegg told a small group of reporters when asked whether the European Games were set to battle it out with the new event over the same market. "It has no impact on us. "I take the view that when you consider what has been delivered at the event from a blank piece of paper, (we) are comfortable with the job we have done and the position of the European Games in the future." The European sports championships, unveiled last month, will combine the continental competitions for rowing, triathlon, swimming, athletics and cycling into a 12-day event split between Scotland and Berlin. They are backed by the European arms of the federations, so these sports are opting for a low-key presence at the Baku Games. Baku, awarded the Games less than three years ago, has been racing to complete preparations as the European Olympic Committees (EOC) attempt to establish their event as the continent's answer to other regional Games like the Asian or Pan American Games. "This is a phenomenal achievement for an inaugural Games," said Clegg of the work done with 50 days to go until the opening ceremony. "We are in a good place but there is no room for complacency. "The biggest challenge has always been time. Let's not forget (preparations) have been compressed to two-and-a-half years. "This company does not have a large track record of organising events of this scale. The magnitude is beginning to dawn on some of the colleagues... just how big this event is." Clegg said claims of systematic human rights violations in Azerbaijan were not within his jurisdiction to comment but he did not feel they would hamper the Games. "I don't think it is overshadowing the Games. I recognise there are questions being asked. They need to be put to the politicians," he said. He also called the Games' deal with BTSport, a British satellite broadcaster, as "important", covering a key market for them. He did not, however, say whether more British broadcasters had actually bid for the rights. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)