Elina Avanesyan: Participating in the Los Angeles Olympic Games is one of our big dreams

There is a strong possibility of participating in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, which would realize one of our main dreams. It is a significant responsibility to represent Armenia at the Olympics.

This was stated during a meeting with journalists by Elina Avanesyan—Armenia's top-ranked tennis player, currently ranked 159th in the WTA world rankings, and competing under the Armenian flag as of 2024.

Elina Avanesyan and the newest member of the Armenian national team, WTA No. 108 Alina Charaeva, are currently in Armenia.

"I am grateful for the opportunity to be in Armenia once again. I am happy to be here.

The past year was quite difficult for me; I had to take a break due to health issues. Now, I am happy to announce that I have fully recovered and am in good health. I am proud that I was able to bounce back thanks to my resilience. That year taught me a great deal. I haven't yet fully regained the confidence I had on the court before my health issues—I am still searching for it. Each subsequent victory brings me closer to my past achievements and helps restore that confidence. I am glad to be back on the court and ready to strive for new heights.

I welcome Alina to our big family. I am happy that Alina will be by my side on this journey. I am very fond of her; we played together many times on the court during our childhood. We have a long road ahead representing the Armenian national team, and it is wonderful that she will be with me throughout this process.

I still need to catch up to Alina in terms of ranking points. I would love to partner with her in doubles at international tournaments, but first, I will try to close the gap in our rankings. We will consider playing together—something I think would be exciting. We have experience playing together from when we were younger, but this would be our first time competing together on the professional circuit.

I believe there are many opportunities to participate in the Olympic Games. Competing at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics is one of our big dreams, and by participating, we will make that dream a reality.

In reality, however, my dream is very simple yet crucial: to be healthy and stay healthy. That is very important in sports.

We recently held a masterclass for children and young people in Tsaghkadzor. It was a very impressive and inspiring experience for both Alina and me. The meeting with the children was particularly interesting. Being a source of inspiration for children is very important to me; it motivates us to improve ourselves so that they, too, can look to us as examples," said Elina Avanesyan.

Elina Avanesyan, a participant in the "Talent Fund" program of the "Keron" Development Foundation, joined the Armenian women's national team for the first time this year and competed in the Billie Jean King Cup. With her participation, the Armenian national team achieved a historic result, securing a spot in the second subgroup after a 16-year hiatus.

Lusine Shahbazyan

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