ArmeniaNow  --  2011 has brought great moments as well as some disappointment for Armenian athletes competing in different sports locally and internationally.

A young and energetic Armenia gave a lot of headache to well-established European football sides at the end of what proved to be its best qualifying campaign so far. Impressive wins over Slovakia and Macedonia in Euro-2012 qualifiers in September and October brought Vardan Minasyan’s side to the verge of qualification to the summer finals, but success was denied through arguably poor referring in the crunch fixture against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

Still, the results shown by Armenia earned the nation its yet highest FIFA rank of 44th (as of December it was 46th) among 200 or so listed football nations, to make fans look confident to the World Cup 2014 qualifying campaign commencing next autumn. The Armenians will face Italy, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Malta in qualification for the Mundial in Brazil.

Domestically, longtime champion Pyunik failed to win the national title for the first time in a decade, with another Yerevan side, Ulisses, taking the trophy for the first time in its short history. The kind of development is largely ascribed to the change of generation at Pyunik, which saw a few of its well-established players, such as Gevorg Ghazaryan, Marcos Pizzelli and others, move abroad, and more young players engaged instead.

In chess success for Armenians competing in different competitions and at different levels was largely predictable as the nation is regarded to be one of the world titans of the ancient game. But victory proved no less delightful for Armenia when its team became world champions at the competition of ten nations in China in July. The same team, however, placed outside the top three at the European championships in November.

Individually, Armenia’s leading chess player Levon Aronian suffered a setback in May at the FIDE Candidates’ Tournament in Kazan, Russia, that was held to decide the grandmaster to challenge reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand in 2012. Aronian, however, showed some stable performance otherwise, retaining his high position in FIDE’s Top Player rankings.

One of the greatest challenges Armenia faced in 2011 was in weightlifting, a sport in which its athletes traditionally excel. Team Armenia suffered a major setback at the World Weightlifting Championships that was held in Paris, France, in November, with only one of its members taking a “little” bronze medal.

Earlier, in spring, Armenia’s weightlifting hope for the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2009 world champion Nazik Avdalyan suffered serious injuries in a car crash, which upset her career plans for the immediate future. On top of all, two leading Armenian weightlifters were challenged by international anti-doping authorities and faced bans from the sport until 2015 for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs during competitions in 2011.

Roman Amoyan brought good news for Armenia in Greco-Roman wrestling as he won a gold medal at European championships in Germany in April. Wrestling is also regarded one of the sports in which Armenians can make achievements at the London Olympics. By the way, Amoyan was recognized as Armenia’s best athlete in 2011.

In professional boxing the year proved hard for both experienced Armenian fighters based abroad. Despite defending his title in the first professional boxing bout to be ever held in Armenia, the nation’s talented son Vic Darchinyan, who has been based in Australia in recent years, suffered more defeats in the professional ring later on, revealing his intention to move to mixed martial arts in the future.

Germany-based Armenian professional boxer Arthur Abraham also suffered a defeat in the ring in 2011 – only the third in his otherwise dazzling professional career. King Arthur, the unbeaten middleweight champion, announced his intention to move back to the division in 2012.

In amateur boxing Armenian athletes managed to win a few Olympic entries at dramatic competitions in Baku, Azerbaijan, held amid security concerns and psychological pressure from the crowd. The good news for Armenians was, however, that their compatriot from Russia became a world champion in Baku, beating an Azeri rival on his way to the title.
Elsewhere in sports, Armenians had successes in judo, sambo, mixed martial arts, etc..

Still, one of the greatest moments for sports domestically (but still internationally) in 2011 was the fifth Pan-Armenian Games held in capital Yerevan in August. The events had brought together more than 3,200 Armenian athletes from over 100 cities worldwide, competing in as many as 10 sports. Perhaps the most spectacular of the events were the basketball games in which the pace was set by American Armenians, with the Los Angeles team eventually winning the trophy.