OVER THE TOP

Wrestling has long been one of the most popular sports in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani wrestlers has a huge collection of medals of the world and European Championships, including the Summer Olympic Games. Azerbaijan’s participation in the Olympics is traditionally associated with wrestling.

Therefore, the recent changes in the Wrestling Federation of Azerbaijan are important. First, the head coach of the national freestyle wrestling team, Firdovsi Umudov, was promoted to the vice-presidency and Orkhan Mammadov replaced Rashad Alizadeh as the Secretary General of the federation.

R+ interviewed the new vice-president of the Wrestling Federation of Azerbaijan and the head coach of the freestyle wrestling team, Firdovsi Umudov about the changes in the leadership and the prospects of wrestling in Azerbaijan.

The media has been increasingly discussing the changes in your federation. Currently you work both as the vice-president of the federation and the head coach of the national team. Is it difficult?

Well, it is difficult, but possible. I am not an outsider. I have been one of the members of the coaching team for years. Now I will try my best to carry out my duties in both positions. The leadership of the federation has entrusted us with this mission and we are ready to justify this trust working tirelessly. I work at the federation every day until the noon mainly to fulfil my routine duties. Then I do my trainings on the playground. It is not that difficult to do both jobs. After all, wrestling is part of my life. I cannot imagine myself out of the sport. President Ilham Aliyev has created excellent conditions for practicing sports for all athletes, including the wrestlers. Our responsibility is to achieve success under such conditions.

Will the changes in the federation continue? Any new names in the coaching team?

Everything will go on in the same manner. There will be changes in the composition of the trainers. We have already included two-time Olympic medalist Rovshan Bayramov and bronze medalist Emin Ahmadov to coaching in the Greco-Roman wrestling team. Young trainers Ashraf Aliyev and Yashar Aliyev will train the freestyle wrestling team. They are energetic and ambitious, and will use their knowledge and skills to train the team.

What is your main objective for the near future?

For the past ten years, our wrestlers have returned from continental and world championships, the Olympic Games to Azerbaijan with medals. Our freestylers and Greco-Roman wrestlers of all age categories - juniors, youth, adults, men and women – have taken part at top international competitions being in the top three in team events. We are obliged to continue demonstrating successful performances. One of our objectives is to be able to maintain strong discipline in the team. This is the main key to success. I talked about this with athletes. W intend to take the maximum number of participants to the Summer Youth Olympic Games and win medals. We have already started preparations for the Tokyo-2020. It is necessary to achieve an effective level of work in all age categories.

We have the European and world championships of all age categories, as well as the summer youth Olympic Games ahead. At the Third Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, we must at least repeat the successes of the Olympics in Singapore and Nanjing. A calendar of training plans is known for a year, and wrestlers are trained according to this plan. We will continue training at the highest level until the Tokyo-2020. I am sure that our efforts will not be in vain.

Our interview takes place just after your training with the national team. How is the preparation going?

Our freestylers and Greco-Roman wrestlers continue trainings. Some of the Greco-Roman wrestlers participate at the international tournament in Iran. In February, we expect that our freestylers will take part at yet another championship in Iran. Then, the national team will take part in competitions in Kiev. Our team will include both women and men wrestlers in both kinds of wrestling. This year our freestyle wrestling team will also test its strength at the World Cup in the U.S. The composition of the national team for participation in the European Championships will be determined after the tournaments in Iran and Ukraine.

Briefly, we must try our best to further develop the wrestling in Azerbaijan, to preserve and strengthen our global ranking. Our main objective is to achieve new victories and to raise our flag again.