TIME FOR "CLASSICISTS" TO SOUND ALARM

Things are getting worrying for national Greco-Roman wrestling - the most traditional and national sport in Azerbaijan, and just in the run-up to the opening of the world wrestling championship in Baku. The national team's chief trainer for Greco-Roman wrestling, Elcin Cafarov, has started losing his charges through injuries, and there were not very many of them to start with.

All this is happening against the backdrop of a stiffening of the national freestyle team from "legionaries" from Russia, brought in by the old-new chief trainer for freestyle wrestling, Yaqub Mammadov, (an experienced specialist who retired last year, he recently took up the freestyle helm again). Following selections carried out by him, the "freestyle team" has become stronger in the heavyweight categories - where we are traditionally weak - while the "Greco-Romans" continue to rely on their own resources and are categorically opposed to bringing legionaries into the national team. Incidentally, the former chief freestyle trainer, Aslan Agayev, was sacked precisely because of his unwillingness to work with legionaries. "The Azerbaijani national Greco-Roman team has never employed the services of legionaries and is not going to do so in future. We are capable of competing with our own resources and without the assistance of the legionaries," Cafarov said.

Problem on top of problem

But in the heavyweight Greco-Roman categories (84, 96 and 120 kg), there is no-one to defend the national honour at international level - there are no suitable candidates for the national team. The situation is the same in freestyle wrestling, but here the gaps are filled by legionaries, while the "classicists" refuse to do this. In addition to this, in the national Greco-Roman national team problems have also arisen in the lightweight categories where we are traditionally strong. For example, the European champion in 2005, Vitaliy Rahimov (60 kg), is out of action for an indefinite period. Plagued by injuries, he has not really achieved anything at international level since then. The famous national wrestler has been receiving treatment in Turkey throughout the recent period. How effective it will be and to what extent it will help him recover from his injuries and regain his form, no-one can say as yet.

Also undergoing treatment in Turkey is another wrestler, Zakir Abdullayev, who competes in the weight category up to 55 kg. But the national Greco-Roman training staff have no need to worry about this category as there is no-one either in Azerbaijan or in Europe who can match Rovsan Bayramov, who recently won the European championship in Sofia. If there is any hope of winning a medal at all, then it will probably be from him.

But most depressing is the situation with the Olympic champion at the Athens games, Farid Mansurov (66 kg), who recently suffered a recurrence of an old spinal injury. We recall that it is precisely this injury that has plagued him since he won the gold medal in Greece and which kept him out of action for 18 months. "It's difficult to say as yet what condition they're in and how quickly they will recover from their injuries," Cafarov admitted to R+. "Specifically, Farid Mansurov and Zakir Abdullayev both have hernias measuring four millimetres, while Vitaliy Rahimov has one measuring two millimetres. As regards Mansurov, he was treated in Germany to lead a normal life, but not to engage in sport. The doctors told him: you're healthy and can expect to live as long as the Good Lord pleases, but they didn't tell him that he could also train and prepare for the Olympics. To be honest, I feel really sorry for Farid, as he has virtually reached the form he enjoyed during the Olympics in Athens. And now he's been hit by disaster again and I don't even know whether he will be able to return to top-class sport. It's possible that he will never recover his previous form and may even have to end his career."

Light at the end of the tunnel

But encouraging news also emerged the other day. The point is that the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) has made a major concession to Azerbaijan and reduced the disqualification period for the Azerbaijani wrestler Husamaddin Racabov, who won a silver medal in the October 2005 world championship. It was actually at that world tournament that a drug was found in his body as a result of which he was unable to compete at international level for the following two years. Under the terms of the disqualification, he would have been able to return to top-flight sport only in October this year, while the world championship is to be held in Baku in September. This is why the national federation appealed to FILA to reduce the period of the disqualification. And they agreed to the concession by canceling one month, meaning he will be able to compete at international level from September this year.

Elcin Cafarov believes that Racabov's return to the national team will undoubtedly have a positive impact both on the team itself and on its prospects. But Racabov still has to justify his place in the national team. "If Racabov is ready then of course he will compete at the world championship, otherwise, in spite of the reduction in the disqualification period, he will miss the Baku tournament," Cafarov said. "He has been training throughout this period, but he recently received a back injury and is currently undergoing treatment. Apart from anything else, you have to bear in mind that he has had no competitive experience for about two years and it's very risky putting a sportsman like that straight into the world championship. The disqualification ends on 1st September, and the championship starts on 17th, how can Racabov acquire competitive experience in that time? If they had allowed him to compete even from August this year we would have had time to give him some practice at some international tournament or other. At any rate, he will start training in the national team and we will see during the training what form he's in and how ready he is for the world championship."

But Racabov's return does not resolve all the problems of the Azerbaijani national Greco-Roman team which, it would appear, will have to rely on the fragile shoulders (in terms of weight) of Rovsan Bayramov at the Baku championship. The time for bringing legionaries into the national Greco-Roman team has already passed. But the Armenians will bring a fully manned team to Baku, stiffened with legionaries. And if in the light and middleweight categories we can hope that our wrestlers will not let us down on our home turf, there will be no-one to defend the honour of the national school of wrestling in the other categories.