Azerbaijan's minister of youth and sport has said that he is "very satisfied" with the opening five days of competition at the inaugural European Games.
The event opened in Baku last Friday and will continue until June 28, when over 250 gold medals will have been handed out.
Azad Rahimov, who is also the CEO of the Games, said at a press conference: "I'm very satisfied with all that is going on. I am very happy with the atmosphere on all the sports venues.
"To be honest, I wasn't really expecting the level would be so high, the level of the sport, the level of all the people smiling, the level of the big celebrations, the happiness on people's faces. The volunteers are working hard
"It's very important to deliver a new project to the world and we were absolutely right to hold it at a high level to encourage interest. Maybe other countries will have other issues and do it at an average level. Our goal is to increase the interest of athletes who are denied their own chance of having their own continental games."
The host nation currently sit second in the medal table behind Russia.
Sian Cowper
