Ilya Ilyin won’t compete until 2014

Two-time Olympic weight-lifting champion Ilya Iliyn won’t be taking part in any weightlifting championships until 2014, Tengrinews.kz reports citing RIA Novosti. The athlete said that he wouldn’t be able to take part in the Russian Federation President's Weightlifting Cup that will be held in Saint Petersburg on October 12-14. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to participate in this tournament. I have decided to take a rehabilitation break and won’t participate in tournaments until 2014,” Ilyin said at the meeting with Pavel Kolobkov, Russia’s Minister of Sport. The Minister met with Kazakhstan Embassy's delegation and Olympic champions in Moscow on October 8. The meeting was timed to the 20th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance signed between Russia and Kazakhstan. Nurlan Seitimov, Deputy Chief of Kazakhstan Mission in Russia along with Kazakhstan's London Olympic prize-winners Ilya Ilyin (94kg Olympic weightlifting champion), Olga Rypakova (long jumps, triple jump and heptathlon Olympic champion) and Akzhurek Tanatarov (66kg Olympic free-style wrestling bronze prize-winner) represented Kazakhstan as part of the delegation. Kolobkov said that Russian athletes frequently trained at the territory of Kazakhstan. “This year more than 700 Russian athletes participated in Kazakhstan training camps. It is necessary to continue joint projects on different sport events. We will discuss this with the heads of our Sport Federations. The joint sport trainings are very important for our countries,” he said.