A CONTRADICTORY RESULT

The European Wrestling Championship held in the Serbian city of Novi Sad became remarkable for the controversial results of Azerbaijani athletes. Although our freestyler and women wrestlers returned with victories, the results of the classical wrestlers were sad.

Women wrestlers finished the championship with one gold and two bronze medals. Our gold medalist is Maria Stadnik (48 kg), while Alyona Kolesnik (55 kg) and Tatyana Omelchenko (60 kg) received bronze medals. With 45 points, the Azerbaijani athletes took the second place in the team classification conceding only to Russian women athletes (55 points). The third was the team of Belarus (43 points).

The result of our female wrestlers is very valuable. Considered a legend of women's wrestling, Maria Stadnik for the sixth time in her career proved that she still has no rivals in Europe. With her high performance during the championship, she has left no chance to her rivals thanks to her unprecedented technique and speed. Stadnik won the gold medal and hinted that she was not going to retire. As the silver medalist of the Rio Olympiad, she is missing only a gold Olympic medal. That's why Stadnik thinks about Tokyo-2020. The Olympics in Japan will be her last chance to become an Olympic champion.

Freestyle wrestlers were awarded at the championship with one gold, three silver and one bronze medals. Gold medalist is Georgy Edisherashvili (57 kg). Murad Suleymanov (74 kg), Alexander Gostiyev (86 kg) and Jamaladdin Magomedov (125 kg) became silver medalists, and Ruslan Dibirhajiyev (70 kg) won the bronze medal. With 57 points in their asset, our national team took the second place. Russia (62 points) and Turkey (53 points) were the second and third runners of the championship, respectively.

Going to the championship as the second national team due to the forthcoming Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, our freestylers justified the hopes. We should particularly note the young athlete Murad Suleymanov, who lost to his stronger opponent only in the final of the worthy competition. Nevertheless, this first medal in his career in adult competitions will be a powerful incentive for him.

Unfortunately, the same is not true for our Greco-Roman wrestlers. Again, the main lineup team stayed in Baku, which was a chance for young Pahlavans to prove themselves. However, the youth was not ready to fight for the medals of the European Championship. On the first day of the competition, Taleh Mammadov, Sanan Suleymanov, Araz Hasanov, Oyan Nazariani could not get their way into the pool of prize-winners. The next day Ruhin Mikailov, Hasan Aliyev, Emin Ahmadov and Arif Niftullayev did not live up to expectations.

Losing in the quarterfinals to a Russian wrestler, the world and European champion Hasan Aliyev showed that he had not yet regained his former form. In general, in recent years, he was remembered with his unstable performance. In this sense, the competition in Serbia could be a great chance for him to return to the national team. But Hasan failed to take advantage of this opportunity. It is unbelievable that the athlete will be a member of the national team next year due to his mistakes.

Famous in all Azerbaijan after winning a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Emin Ahmedov disappointed the coaches losing to the Turkish wrestler Aslan Atam in his first meeting. He lost the second battle, as well as any chance for a bronze medal. Losing at the start of the competition to a weak opponent demonstrated the athlete's lack of readiness for the championship, which puts his return to the main team under question.

For the sixth time in her career, Maria Stadnik became the European champion. She shared her impressions with R + after her victory: “After the Olympics in Rio, I almost did not rest. I started training very soon. As a result, I won the gold medal of the European Championship. I want to thank the coaches who have supported me for many years. At the same time, I was always with the leadership of the federation. On my first visit to the European Championship, I dreamed of a gold medal. Now I have six such medals in my collection. I consider the European Championship a zonal competition. I know all athletes. Please do not get me wrong but I'm stronger than most of them. Now I will focus on Islamic Solidarity Games. Then I am going to have some rest. This year my son will go to the first class. I want to give him some time. But, of course, I do not think about the end of my career.”

Head coach of the Azerbaijani national wrestling team Firdovsi Umudov said that because of the Islamic Solidarity Games he gave rest to main athletes: “We sent our second team of freestylers to the European Championship. Nevertheless, I am pleased with the performance of our athletes. They fought to the end and achieved good results. Preparation for the competition was held at a high level and the medals won at the European Championship show that we are on the right track. The Islamic Solidarity Games are waiting for us now. The current success of our athletes will be an incentive, motivation for them to prepare for the Islamiad. We had very good training. The leadership of the federation created all conditions for us. We will try to please our people and to justify the trust bestowed upon us at these prestigious competitions”.

Our national team of wrestlers will represent Azerbaijan at the Islamic Solidarity Games in full.