THE DIAMOND SHINING IN SERBIA

The European Karate Championship recently finished in the Serbian city of Novi Sad. For Azerbaijani athletes, this was a successful end of their first serious test in 2018.

After defeating all his rivals, the leader of the Azerbaijani national team Rafael Aghayev (75 kg) qualified for the final match. He became the five-time world champion and the eleven-time European champion after defeating the Hungarian Gabor Harspataki (2:1).

Shahin Hatamov (+84 kg) and Irina Zaretska (68 kg), who were second only to the Bosniac Ivan Klepic and the Swedish athlete Elena Guirichi, took the silver medals.

Nurana Aliyeva (50 kg) and Roman Heydarov (kata) became the bronze medallists of the championship.

In team competitions however, Azerbaijani karatekas were not that successful. The national kumite team represented by Rafael Aghayev, Shahin Hatamov, Aykhan Mamayev, Asiman Gurbanli, Rafiz Hasanov, Tural Aghazade and Turgut Hasanov lost the match for the third place to the national team of Serbia (0:3). The other kumite team represented by Tural Baljanyli, Ismayil Mammadov and Rovshan Aliyev failed to compete for the bronze medals with the Turkish team (0:5).

With one gold, two silver and two bronze medals, the Azerbaijani team took the sixth place in the team event.

In general, the leadership of the Azerbaijan Karate Federation was satisfied with the achievements. "We have a very strong team. I thank everyone who helped us. We are happy that we have such an athlete as Raphael. If he becomes a winner in the next world championship scheduled for early November in Madrid, he will make his record even more inaccessible. I would like to listen to our anthem at the Olympic Games," said Yashar Bashirov, President of the Azerbaijan Karate Federation in his interview with R+.

The federation expects that other members of the national team will also be successful. "For the third consecutive year, Roman Heydarov wins the bronze medal of the European Championship. No other karateka in the CIS can beat his success. In kumite, we could have not three, but five finals. But in the semifinals, the judge was unfair to Aykhan Mamayev. Tural Aghalarzadeh could take the third place too. Shahin Hatamov lost in the last seconds. Nurana was great and received a bronze medal. Irina has represented Azerbaijan in international tournaments for more than four years. She was able to reach the final stage of the continental championship. However, because of her injuries, which she has suffered for seven months, she lost the decisive battle. We believe that she will say her word at the World Championship and the Olympic Games," said Mr. Bashirov.

Light weight category is a critical area of the national team. According to Bashirov, Firdovsi Farzaliyev and Tural Aghalarzade can still qualify for the Games. The obvious favourite of the championship was Rafael Aghayev (75 kg). Aykhan, Shahin or Asiman Gurbanli can take part in the Olympics in higher weight categories. Weight categories 50 and 55 kg were joined for women athletes. Nurana Aliyeva and Ilaha Gasimova are the athletes fighting in this category for the Olympic license. "We have a weak position in the 61-kg category, but in the 68-kg category we have Irina Zaretska. If she can maintain her present form, she will go to the Tokyo-2020. We have a chance to win 3-4 licenses, which can bring us a couple of medals in Japan," said the president of the Karate Federation of Azerbaijan.

It is possible to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics during the European Championship-2020 in Baku. However, it is also possible to earn many points already in Chile, Japan, China and Germany, where a number of prestigious competitions will be held.

The head coach of the national team on kumite Shahin Khudaverdiyev is also happy with the results of our athletes at the European Championships. According to him, the national team is currently focused on preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. "Our athletes performed well. I believe we will be successful in the World Cup too. In 2014, our men's team became the European champion, followed by success of our women’s team two years later. This time however, the guys were tired. Our late arrival to Serbia created problems with adaptation. Perhaps we made some tactical mistakes too. In addition, the athletes qualified for the right to compete for medals are usually cautious, trying not to get injured. The main thing is individual success. After all, the results of team competitions do not affect the rating," said Khudaverdiyev.

Eleven-time European champion and five-time world champion Rafael Aghayev shares the opinion of his coach. His answer to our question "How do you remain motivated with so many titles?" was brief: "I forget about the championship two or three days after the victory."

Rafael will resume training after a short break. "We have to be prepared for the upcoming world championship. The main objective for now is to make the anthem of Azerbaijan performed at the Olympics," said Rafael.

By the way, the World Cup scheduled for November 2018 will be another serious test for our karatekas this year. Since karate is included in the program of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in 2020, our athletes are trying to win rating points in all competitions.