Vahid Mammadov: "I was sure that our national freestyle wrestling team would become the European champion."

I believed that our team would become the European champion.

Vahid Mammadov, the coach of the Azerbaijani U-17 national freestyle wrestling team, said this in his statement to "Report".

The 70-year-old specialist spoke about the performance of the Azerbaijani national team at the European Championship held in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia:

"Almost 90 percent of the wrestlers achieved results. Becoming a champion is not important yet. Sometimes you win a gold medal and complacency arises. There is a little more than 3 years left until the next Summer Olympic Games. The results achieved during this period are important. The team is being rejuvenated. For example, I would like to highlight Aghanazar Novruzov (74 kg). He is a good wrestler. He has been consistently achieving results and winning medals since his youth. He also had a competition where he won a gold medal. I expect a medal from him at the next Summer Olympic Games. He is only 20 years old. Olympic champions in wrestling are usually 20-25 years old. The team becoming the European champion is a good result. The goal is to prepare for the next Olympics."

Vahid Mammadov also touched upon Giorgi Meshvildishvili's (125 kg) winning a gold medal:

"Kamandar Majidov and Vugar Orujov, who previously left Azerbaijan, achieved results as representatives of other countries. If Giorgi Meshvildishvili also came from Georgia, he wants to prove something. He became an Olympic medalist, and then won a gold medal at the European Championship. He will become a world champion in the future. This tournament will be more difficult because representatives of other continents also participate. Meshvildishvili's winning a gold medal is commendable. He will try to repeat the same result at the World Championship. I also wish our freestyle wrestlers success in that competition."

It should be noted that freestyle wrestlers have previously won 1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals. Giorgi Meshvildishvili (125 kg) became the European champion, Osman Nurmagomedov (92 kg) won silver, and Islam Bazarganov (57 kg), Ali Rahimzade (65 kg), Kanan Heybatov (70 kg) and Aghanazar Novruzov (74 kg) won bronze medals.

The Azerbaijani national freestyle wrestling team became the European champion in the team score. The continental championship will end on April 13.