Ashkhatank

a voluntary sports society (DSO) of the Armenian SSR trade unions that conducts sports and athletic work among industrial and construction workers and students in higher and specialized secondary educational institutions. It was founded in 1958.

As of Jan. 1, 1969, the Ashkhatank DSO united 57,100 athletes, including 17,200 women. About 12,500 of its members took up hiking, about 7,000 played chess, about 6,500 played volleyball, almost 5,500 played soccer, and more than 1,500 went in for kokh, an Armenian wrestling game, and other national sports. More than 100 specialized trainers and about 8,000 activists conduct the work of the Ashkhatank DSO. The society had in its ranks 154 masters of sport of the USSR and 1,227 sportsmen of the first class. The soccer team Ararat is a member of the Ashkhatank DSO.