Azerbaijani judoka Zelim Kotsoyev (100 kg) felt the support of his teammate Hidayat Heydarov in the final match of the Grand Prix tournament held in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Idman.Biz reports that the Olympic champion said this in an interview with "Judo TV".
He recalled that Azerbaijani representatives won 6 gold medals in the mentioned tournament: "We have very good coaches in our country, everyone works very hard for us. We must also win. I hope that we will achieve the best results in the World Championship and the Olympic Games as well. I congratulate Hidayat. He is my close friend. We train together. When he wrestles, I support him, and he supported me. I could hear his voice in the final. I was very happy for him."
Kotsoyev, who won the gold award in Mexico, said that he feels good: "The competition day was very difficult for me. My physical condition is not one hundred percent, but I am very happy. I have met Reyes, whom I defeated in the final, several times. He is a very strong judoka. His left hand is almost like concrete (laughs). I knew that I had to "kill" his left hand, that is, take control of it. I was very motivated. The moment I got a grip, I thought: "Now or never." And the technique I performed worked immediately. After the fight, I jokingly said to him: "Why are you sleeping, we just started?" He was not in his ideal shape either."
The judoka, who previously took fifth place at the Grand Prix in Lima, the capital of Peru, emphasized that the competition was very difficult: "Peru was very difficult for me - both in terms of adaptation and weight loss. I didn't feel well. But this time I have been in Mexico for a while and I feel much better. It was a difficult day, but I am very happy. Everything was better than in Peru."