Ganja European Cup: New names and high expectations from the Azerbaijan national judo team

Good results are expected from the Azerbaijan national judo team consisting of teenage boys at the European Cup to be held in Ganja.

Head coach of the team Emin Iskandarov told "Report" about this.

He said that they have completed the final stage of the training camp before the competition:

"We have prepared well for the European Cup stages. Earlier, our athletes performed well at the International Masters Tournament in Bremen, Germany. There was also a training camp there. There were more than 700 judokas. The competition was strong and our judokas were able to show themselves from the good side. This satisfied us. I hope that with the experience we gained there, we will be able to achieve good results in Ganja. The team's discipline, psychological state and mood satisfy us."

E. Iskandarov said that new judokas will be involved in the national team:

"7-8 athletes from last year remained in the team, while the others are new. But we were preparing those children from last year. They participated in training camps. They were also able to join the national team. We will see new names at the European Cup to be held in Ganja. This year, there are also new "breaths" from the regions compared to previous times. Judokas are involved from Mingachevir, Ganja, Zagatala and other regions. This shows that there is development. We have great expectations from these athletes as well."

The expert said that they analyzed the opponents who will participate in the European Cup:

"We have looked at the teams, we have analyzed them. Kazakhstan is coming with the main team. Georgia also has key team members. They also have a selection for the national team like us. We do not consider the opponents weak. The strong will win. Two weeks after the competition in Ganja, we will participate in the European Cup to be held in Berlin, the capital of Germany. After that, we will have selection competitions. Those who give results will be taken to the European and World Championships."

The head coach spoke about the goals at the European and world championships this year:

"We hope that we will have European and world champions this year. That is the goal of every coach. We hope for this this year. We had a lot of expectations last year. We won three gold medals at the European Championship. We could not repeat this result at the World Championship, the children failed. But this year we have worked on it responsibly. We will try to have a gold medal in both competitions."

Let us remind that the European Cup will be held on April 4-5 at the Ganja Sports Palace.