SECOND TEAM

The European Wrestling Championships held in the Serbian capital Belgrade did not attract great attention in the media because they did not have a licensing nature. In the year of the Olympic Games, most countries decided to save their leading sportsmen for the contest in London, sending second teams to Serbia. The Azerbaijani Wrestling Federation did the same thing, deciding to concentrate its leading sportsmen on preparations for the classification tournament of the London Olympics. At the same time, the team was supposed to defend its positions in Belgrade.

The Belgrade voyage of Azerbaijani freestyle wrestlers was marked with one gold and one bronze medal. However, compared to last year's championship, where we won two gold and three bronze medals, it is a step back.

At the same time, despite the fact that the second team participated in the championship, the current European championship brought a new champion to Azerbaijan.

It is a young and promising wrestler, Togrul Alasgarov. Although the draw did not favour our wrestler, he still beat all his rivals and deserved to win the gold. What's more, Togrul beat most of his rivals with a big score. For example, his encounter with Romania's George Bucur in the semi-finals ended with a score of 10:0 in favour of our wrestler. In the final, Togrul did not leave any chances to Bulgaria's Anatoliy Guydya and rose to the highest step on the podium for the first time in his career.

The European championship was also successful for Aleksandr Gostiyev, who participated in it in the weight class of 74 kg. The wrestler, who won a gold medal in the previous championship in Kiev, became a bronze winner this time. Losing to the Georgian wrestler Khuchishvili in the semi-finals, Gostiyev gained a resounding victory over Somir Demetras from Turkey and became third in his weight class.

Camaladdin Mahammadov (120 kg) also failed to live up to expectations. The bronze winner of the previous continental championship in Serbia was left without a medal. Qalib Aliyev (55 kg), Emin Azizov (66 kg) and Novruz Tamrazov (84 kg) had the same fate. The mistakes these sportsmen made got in their way to the podium.

The women's national team of Azerbaijan also failed, though they scored a record success in the previous championship - three gold and one bronze medal. This time, our women wrestlers won only two bronze medals. Sona Ahmadli (59 kg) and Nadezhda Sementsova (67 kg) took only third places, though they were capable of achieving more. This is while Sona went to the championship as a champion and Nadezhda - as a two-time European champion. The latter lost to Ukraine's Alla Cherkasova in the semi-finals and became a bronze winner, beating Russia's Yuliya Bartnovskaya. Sona lost the first fight in the tournament - the only thing that helped her to become third was that Ukraine's Gana Vasilenko, who had beaten her, reached the final. Losing the semi-final, Patimat Bagomedova (51 kg) was left without a medal. The biggest failure befell Yuliya Ratkevich. Our sportswoman, now former European champion, left the tournament, losing in the debut of the championship.

It must be noted that there are only two licensing tournaments left till the Summer Olympics in London, and in the Azerbaijani national team, only Maria Stadnik has a licence. In other categories, our sportswomen can win places only if they successfully perform in these tournaments. If the mistakes made in Serbia repeat themselves, the number of our women wrestlers in London will be minimal.

Azerbaijani Greco-Roman wrestlers also won one gold and one bronze medal in Belgrade. Although this time the number of medals is lower than in last year's championship (one gold and four bronzes), their performance can still be considered successful.

The biggest success of the national team was the performance of Elcin Aliyev (55 kg). Gaining the title of European champion for the second time in a row, our wrestler proved that he is one of the strongest ones in his weight class. Although Elcin ended up in the shadow after Rovsan Bayramov's victory in the same category at the world championship, he made himself known in Serbia again. We should especially highlight the fact that the lots led him to encounter the strongest rivals - first, Roman Amoyan from Armenia, then Dmitriy Kharko from Ukraine and in the final, Peter Modos from Hungary.

Shalva Gadabadze (96 kg) repeated last year's result. Losing the final, he still managed to win a bronze medal. Kamran Mammadov (60 kg), who was included in the national team for the first time, lost to a Bulgarian wrestler in the semi-finals. However, unlike Shalva, he failed to get a grip on himself when it was necessary and lost the fight for third place to Russia's Arslan Abdullin.

Another wrestler, European champion Vitaliy Rahimov, was simply unlucky. Injured in the first stage, he could not continue the fight. Saman Tahmasib (84 kg), who began his performance at the championship with a resounding victory over the Olympic champion Aleksey Mishin, failed to develop his success either. In the semi-final, Saman lost to his rival from Lithuania.

Elvin Mursaliyev (74 kg), who was regarded as one of the main candidates for the first national team, did not live up to expectations either. However, Masud Hasimzada's performance in the heavy weight category was a pleasant surprise for the coaches. Reaching the semi-finals, our wrestler lost to famous Hasan Baroyev. In the match for third place, Ukraine's Yevgeniy Orlov got in the way of our sportsman. The 120 kg class was a problem for our national team. Therefore, the fact that Masud reached the semi-finals is a result in itself.

In the team performances, Azerbaijani "freestylers" took eighth, women wrestlers - fourth and "classics" - third place. In general, the performance of the Azerbaijani national team in the European championship can be regarded as satisfactory. The medals that were won show that the first team has a worthy replacement. For the time being, licensing tournaments lie ahead for our first team in April.