DUSHANBE, December 21, Asia-Plus  -- Cellular operator has become general sponsor of Tajikistan’s national team that will participate in the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.  

A sponsorship agreement between Tajikistan’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the limited liability company Tacom, which provides cellular services in Tajikistan under the ‘Beeline’ brand, was signed in Dushanbe on December 19.  

Under this agreement Tacom has been granted a status of general sponsor of the Tajik Olympic team. 

Speaking to journalists after an agreement-signing ceremony, the Tacom director general Igor Pilyugin said that they would like to make their contribution to development of the Olympic movement in Tajikistan through supporting the country’s national team that will participate in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

“Besides, participation in this event gives us an opportunity to promote our company’s brand and allow our customers seeing new aspects of Beeline’s activities,” the director general said.     

Pilyugin noted that his company would provide the Tajik team with skilled coaches, proper training camps outside Tajikistan, sportswear and mobile communications.  

For his part, the NOC president Bahrullo Rajabaliyev noted that Tajik athletes had shown good results this year that allowed them hoping for prize-wining places in judo and free-style wrestling.  

The Tacom commercial director Yelena Yakovleva said that the company had concluded contracts with leading Tajik athletes who would participate in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.  “Under the signed contracts, the athletes will participate in actions aimed at promoting the Beeline brand,” she said, noting that they hope that Tajik athletes will take prize-wining places on some Olympic-type sports.  

Tajikistan’s NOC plans to form the country’s Olympic team to participate in nine Olympic-type sports such as boxing, judo, free-style  and Greek-Roman wrestling, swimming, taekwon-do, athletics, shooting and bow-shooting.  

To date, three Tajik athletes – Dilshod Nazarov (hammer throwing), Rasoul Boqiyev (judo) and Yusuf Abdusalomov – have qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.  

On December 27, 2005, VimpelCom (Vimpel-Communications) announced the purchase of a 60% stake in Tajik cellular operator “Tacom” for $12 million. 

Tacom is licensed to provide cellular communication services in Tajikistan in the GSM-900/1800, UMTS, CDMA-450, and AMPS standards.

The VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and recently acquired companies in Georgia and Armenia. The Company operates under the ''Beeline'' brand.  The VimpelCom Group’s cellular license portfolio covers 78 regions of Russia and the entire territories of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia.