Turgut Hasanov won the 4th medal in karate at the III CIS Games. The 32-year-old athlete defeated Gleb Sachkovski (Belarus) 2:1, Safiulloh Zarifov (Tajikistan) 10:4, Konshau-bi Kurmanov (Russia) 4:1 in group A and Shukhratjon Namazov (Uzbekistan) 5:0 in the semi-finals to reach the final. He later won the gold medal by defeating Konshau-bi Kurmanov again 7:4 in the final.
Turgut Hasanov commented on his victories in an interview with Prosport.az:
– Were you nervous?
– Of course, there was excitement. The feeling of victory is great. It's a great feeling to achieve this in our own land. My arm was injured. God helped me to win a gold medal. Thank you to everyone who has worked hard on me.
– Were you familiar with the opponents you faced?
– Yes. We had analyzed them all.
– You became our first athlete to win a gold medal by winning all the matches in kumite. What can you say about this?
– 2 of my matches were difficult. I knew the opponent, we had been analyzing him for a long time. Thank God, the analysis paid off.
– What is the next goal?
– In 1 week, we will participate in the world championship license competition in Paris, the capital of France. The competition will be held there on October 17-19. The next competition is the Islamic Solidarity Games. If I get a license, I will also participate in the World Championship in Egypt in November.