The Azerbaijani national team was remembered with a successful performance at the U-17 World Championship held in Athens, the capital of Greece.
Idman.biz reports that our national freestyle wrestling team, which won 1 gold and 3 bronze medals, has returned to the Motherland.
A welcoming ceremony was held for the team at Heydar Aliyev International Airport. After the ceremony, the team's head coach and successful athletes made statements.
Asgarxan Novruzov, head coach: "I have been the head coach in this team for 15 years. I can say that it was one of the most competitive world championships of recent years. Iran is considered a wrestling country. They always have gold medals. But this time they could not win a gold medal. We had our champion. We missed the 3rd place in the team score by only 1 point. We prepared well for the competition. The children were also ready. We lost to athletes from countries considered favorites in most weights. In some meetings, we lost in the last seconds. Sometimes sports luck did not smile on us. Otherwise, we could have won more medals. But 4 medals is also a great result. It is the best result of the last 3 years. Freestyle wrestling coordinator Haji Aliyev also traveled with us to the competition. Our world champion was in Haji Aliyev's weight - 65 kg. I thank Haji on behalf of the whole team. He gave us comprehensive support."
Haji Aliyev, freestyle wrestling coordinator: "I congratulate our team, the personal coaches of the medalists, and the coaches of the national team. May our federation be happy that our teenagers achieved a great success at the world championship. We were the first among European countries. The world championship is a very difficult competition. It is not easy to win a medal here. Today's champions and medalists are potential world and Olympic champions in the future. We are doing our best to lead these medalists correctly to the future and train new world and Olympic champions. I am always ready to do my best. I hope we will achieve great success."
Huseyn Ismayilov, world champion: "The competition went very well. Last year I promised that I would turn my silver into gold at the world championship. Thank God, that's what happened. Thanks to Asgarxan's training and regime, we achieved this. My next goal is to continue this success in the youth. I express my gratitude to everyone who has worked hard on me. All meetings are difficult at the world championship. But in all meetings, I believed that even if it was based on the last point principle, I would be the winner. Thank God, that's what happened."
Said Pashayev, third in the world: "I went to the competition to become a champion. It didn't work out due to certain mistakes. I hope that in the future I will correct the mistakes and achieve greater success. I am thinking about deciding whether to continue my future career in freestyle or Greco-Roman wrestling in the near future."
Hakim Tagiyev, third in the world: "The competition went great. I won a bronze medal. A higher result could have been achieved. I hope I will prepare better than this and win a gold medal next year. I am grateful to my family, my personal coach and the coaches of the national team."
Idman.biz