"The federations we compete with are not in Azerbaijan. These are the Judo federations of Japan, France, Russia, and Georgia."
These words were said by Rashad Rasul, Executive Vice-President of the Azerbaijan Judo Federation (ACF).
He noted that the goal is to develop Azerbaijani judo at the international level and increase its competitiveness:
"Why, for example, should we compete with the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation? On the contrary, we should support each other and exchange experiences. As my colleague Parvin Piriyev said, we have met several times and exchanged ideas. We have also had consultations with the Swimming, Boxing, Gymnastics, Canoe and Rowing, Volleyball, and Weightlifting federations," he told sport.net.
According to Rashad Rasul, the level of professionalism of our female judokas is even lower than that of men:
"It is impossible to expect results in big competitions without suffering. This does not apply to everyone, but I must emphasize it anyway. Professional sports require great effort. If you have 10 sparring sessions of five minutes each in the program in one day, you can't just stop after doing three, saying "I'm tired, my back hurts." You have to lift that load. Otherwise, you will not be able to achieve results in big competitions. That is, you have to accept that pain."