Idman.biz
"In fact, I could have repeated my achievement last year by winning another gold medal. But I made a very big mistake in the semi-final match, so I lost the gold medal."
These words were said by Azerbaijani judoka Ruslan Pashayev, who won a bronze medal in the 66 kg weight category at the "Grand Slam" in Paris, the capital of France.
The 26-year-old athlete expressed his satisfaction that he did not remain without a medal this time either.
"In the next competitions, I will replace the "bronze" here with "gold"," he said in a statement to sportnet.az.
R. Pashayev also promised to win a medal at the world championship in the 66 kg weight category in Baku this year after a long time:
"I will do everything I can to break that spell this year."
The talented athlete also explained the reason why he achieved high results in adult competitions, while he could not win a medal among teenagers and young people:
"I could not win a medal at the European Championships when I was a teenager. For this reason, I was not admitted to higher education. As a result, I went to military service. After the army, I started to seriously engage in judo. I saw that it works and I believed that I would do something. It was a little difficult to get in shape. But everything is fine now. I am thinking of submitting documents to higher education this year. Let's see if they accept me (laughs - ed.).
R. Pashayev also revealed the history of his involvement in the national team:
"My first coach was Ilham Mammadov. I took second place in the Azerbaijan championship among young people, after that I was involved in the national team."
It should be noted that the Azerbaijani national team won three medals at the Paris "Grand Slam". Balabey Agayev (60 kg) won gold, Zelim Tckaev (81 kg) won silver, and Ruslan Pashayev (66 kg) won bronze medals.
