Azerbaijan Handball Federation: Our teams could not achieve high places in the memorial tournament due to lack of experience

The reason for the poor performance of the Azerbaijani teams in the Heydar Aliyev memorial tournament was inexperience.

This was stated by Isgandar Asgarov, Head of the Sports Department of the Azerbaijan Handball Federation, representative of the European Handball Federation, in an interview with "Report".

The official of the organization evaluated the results of the competition held in Azerbaijan in memory of the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev:

"If our teams had more experience, they would have taken higher places. The level and preparation system of the teams that come here are different. They are preparing for the Asian Cup. Therefore, when they come to Azerbaijan, their preparation is at a high level. For example, Uzbekistan participated in a tournament in Russia and came from there. These teams started preparing earlier. Of course, if we take into account the European level, we are weak. But last year the "Kur" team passed one stage. At that time, there were many legionnaires in the team. Now we have reduced them. The most important thing for us is the development of Azerbaijani handball players. Because we do not participate in European or world-class competitions, we do not have high-level handball players in the national team. Those who do are 35-40 years old. That is, they are nearing the end of their careers. We need young handball players. For this purpose, we are trying to develop handball in the regions as well. Compared to previous years, the number of local handball players has increased. This is already an achievement."

He emphasized that interest in handball is growing in Azerbaijan:

"Interest in handball is growing. There are applications from many regions, those who want to coach. Our weak point is that the number of coaches and athletes is small. There is almost no handball in sports schools. Together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, we are trying to develop handball in the regions of Azerbaijan. Three years ago, Mingachevir did not have a team. Now, teams are operating in Lankaran, Gazakh, Ganja, Goygol, Jalilabad."

I. Asgarov said that they want to organize international competitions in Azerbaijan in the coming years:

"We have been holding this competition for the third year in a row. Women participated in the first two tournaments. This year, men played for the first time. Our internal competitions start in September and end in May. Every year, at least 4 of our clubs participate in the European Cups. The European Cup games start in September. In order to be ready for the competition, clubs must participate not only in training camps, but also in games. The purpose of holding the tournament is primarily to enable teams to better prepare for international competitions. In the future, we want to organize international competitions in Azerbaijan again. Our goal is to make the Heydar Aliyev memorial tournament traditional among women's teams. Because these teams play in the European Cups. We have also planned a tournament for men. We want to hold a tournament in memory of our deceased coach Hikmat Abdullayev. We also intend to make this traditional."

It should be noted that the winner of the memorial tournament was the OKMK team of Uzbekistan, which defeated the Kazakhstan national team in the final. The Azerbaijani teams "Baku" and "Kur" stopped the fight in the semi-finals. Our other representative, "Karabakh", could not get out of the group.