Zelim Kotsoyev Talks About His Victory at the Guadalajara Grand Prix and His Opponent Reyes

Our judoka Zelim Kotsoyev (100 kg) stated that he felt the support of his teammate Hidayat Heydarov in the final match of the Grand Prix tournament held in Guadalajara, Mexico. Sport24.az reports that the Olympic champion said this in an interview with the press service of the International Judo Federation:

"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 at the World Championships 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 "gold" at the Grand Prix, 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 it under control. I was very motivated. When I got hold of his arm, 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 also not in his ideal shape."

The judoka, who previously took fifth place at the Grand Prix held in Lima, the capital of Peru, emphasized that the competition was very difficult:

"Peru was very difficult for me – both in terms of acclimatization and weight loss. I didn't feel good. But this time I have been in Mexico for a while and I feel much better. It was a tough day, but I'm very happy. Everything was better than in Peru."