According to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the declaration of 2023 as the "Year of Heydar Aliyev" in the Republic of Azerbaijan, a series of events were being carried out at Sumgayit State University within the framework of the "Year of Heydar Aliyev".

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the national leader Heydar Aliyev"s birth, an inter-faculty competition in 5 sports (table tennis, checkers, chess, volleyball and basketball) was held at SSU. A popular intellectual game "Best Presentation" competition, "What? Where? When?" was organized jointly by the Student Union Committee and the Student Youth Organization "Heydar Aliyev and modern Azerbaijani youth".

The winners of the held events were awarded on June 2 by the rector of the university professor Elkhan Huseynov.

The rector of the university professor Elkhan Huseynov opened the awarding ceremony and stated that the events held within the "Year of Heydar Aliyev" had an important role in terms of studying the legacy of the Great Leader and passing it on from generation to generation. He noted that Heydar Aliyev"s activity was a school and every citizen of Azerbaijan was obliged to study this school.

The rector also drew attention to the fact that the main purpose of holding these competitions was to keep alive the dear memory of the Great Leader. After National Leader Heydar Aliyev"s return to power at the insistence of the people, the development of sports and physical education became one of the priority branches of state policy. Future priorities were determined in the direction of eliminating the problems faced by sports, improving the financial well-being of athletes, giving them stimulation for future victories, as well as creating new sports complexes in the country. Heydar Aliyev laid the foundation for the great achievements of Azerbaijan today in the sports fields of the world. The great personality Heydar Aliyev always focused on the high level development of sports in our country. As a result of this, our athletes achieved high goals in competitions and waved our flag at the top. State care for young people continues today. Our country hosts great sports events and is known as a sports country in the world. The economic power of our country has had a positive effect on the progress of sports. Currently, not only in our capital, but also in the regions, many Olympic complexes, modern sports facilities have been put into use, and the material and technical base has been strengthened. All these works, of course, played an exceptional role in the success of our athletes in local and international tournaments.

Professor Elkhan Huseynov also emphasized that at a time when the level of development of sports and physical education in our country was increasing day by day, there was no doubt that special attention was paid to this field in higher education institutions. Sumgayit State University, like the higher education institutions of our republic, also contributes to the development of this field.

The winners were presented with certificates, trophies and cash prizes, and certificates were given to the distinguished participants.

The speakers, in their turn, expressed their deep gratitude to the university administration for the high-level organization of the events.