"The national championship will be held next month. Those who rank in the top three will be involved in the national team."
This was stated by the veteran Greco-Roman wrestler of Azerbaijan, Taleh Mammadov, in his interview with offsideplus.az.
We present that interview.
- What will be the main goals and areas of special attention in the U15 national team?
-I realize the great responsibility of this position. Our young wrestlers are the main force shaping Azerbaijani wrestling. Our goal is to prepare and form our wrestlers even better tactically, technically and physically, and to properly deliver them to future age groups, especially to the senior age group, and to win more medals for our country. We will try to teach children what a professional athlete should be like.
- How do you assess the current state of the team?
- This age group is such that new children come every year. Unlike adults, we are not with an athlete for 5-10 years. An athlete can be in the same team for a maximum of 2 years. Then he moves to the upper age group. This also has its difficulties. But we will try to cope with it.
- Are there any wrestlers in the national team that you can specifically mention, who stand out with their potential?
- Yes, we have many promising and potential children in our team. Two of them have been European silver medalists in previous years. The rest of the team are new children.
- What are the current problems with the team?
- Our only problem in the team is the shortage of athletes in heavy weights and the lack of high competitiveness. We want to do great things in this direction. We and the coaching staff have an idea to work on heavy weights so that problems in the senior age group will be eliminated in the future, our athletes will grow up and there will be no need for legionnaires.
- Ilham Vezirov, Azad Aliyev and Fuad Aydinli are also working with you in the U15 national team. What are your expectations from this team?
- Ilham is older than us and is one of the leading coaches in the country, he is of great benefit to the team. Azad Aliyev and Fuad Aydinli are teachers who know the intricacies of wrestling and can work patiently with children and teach them. I am sure that together we will raise healthy, strong and educated athletes for the future.
- What can you say about the upcoming competitions and the preparation process?
- The national championship will be held next month. Those who rank in the top three will be involved in the national team. Training camps will start in Baku and will continue for 2 months with short breaks. In these training camps, we will select the team that will go to the European Championship, and we will leave for the European Championship to be held in Bulgaria on May 20-24.