"My goal was to be a champion, but I got third place."
This was stated to Idman.biz by Murad Fatiyev, a judoka of the Azerbaijani national team.
He evaluated his performance at the European Championship held in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. Fatiyev, who rose to the third step of the podium in the 90 kg weight category, said that the competition was very difficult: "Some matches were especially difficult. For example, Georgian Luka Maisuradze had beaten me three times before, and I had only won once. Although the match with him was difficult, I was the winner. Also, we had faced the French athlete Alexis Mathieu, with whom I fought for the bronze medal, twice before. In one of these meetings, he won, and in the other, I won. He is a very strong athlete. This match with Mathieu was also difficult."
The judoka also spoke about his future plans: "The World Championship is in 40 days. We will start training as soon as we return to Baku. We have very little time. I really want to win a medal at the World Championship."
It should be noted that in the fight for the bronze of the European Championship, Fatiyev defeated Alexis Mathieu with an ippon and took 3rd place.
Aytaj Sahed
Idman.biz