Idman.biz
Ziyad Aliyev, an Azerbaijani expert who has been working as a coach in Serbia for the last three years, is currently at the European Wrestling Championship held in Albania. Although he has worked with athletes in various age categories before, he has been the assistant head coach of the Serbian Greco-Roman wrestling team for the last six months.
Aliyev's trainee, Serbian wrestler Georgi Tibilov, won the gold medal of the European Championship in the 60 kg weight category. Nihat Mammadli competed from Azerbaijan in the same weight and was satisfied with the bronze medal this time.
In an interview with Idman.Biz, Ziyad Aliyev said that he was expecting a different final in this weight category:
"We know Nihat's level. Considering that I am Azerbaijani, when the opponent is a representative of Azerbaijan, I try not to approach some issues too deeply and look at the situation more from the outside. I don't want anyone from my country to lose, but this does not affect my work at the same time. As far as I know, Nihat is not in his best form right now. But, of course, we were expecting a final between him and Tibilov."
The expert called Tibilov's gold medal a "consolation":
"This is our only gold medal. It was a kind of consolation. In general, the championship did not go badly, although we were expecting results in other weight categories as well."
Ziyad Aliyev also spoke about the character of Azerbaijani wrestlers and the position of the national team in the world arena:
"We always expect the highest results and intense competition from Azerbaijan. We have a very good team. Everyone is talking about us today. For example, Hasrat Jafarov's match with his Georgian opponent in the semi-final was simply magnificent. He won in a real fight. All Azerbaijani athletes have this fighting character. We look at it from the prism of the country: there are people behind us, of course, we have our families, and everyone expects a successful performance."
According to Ziyad Aliyev, he is trying to instill the strong spirit typical of Azerbaijanis in Serbian athletes as well:
"There is a big difference between us and Europeans in this matter. When I started working with them, I realized that without this, all other aspects are meaningless."
The coach also added that the Serbian federation, whose vice-president is another Azerbaijani, Yusif Abbasov, is considering the possibility of involving Azerbaijani wrestlers in the national team in some weight categories.
"But this is difficult because no one wants to let go of their good athletes. We are working in this direction, looking for young people who can show good results in the future," he concluded.
