"ONLY OLD MEN GO TO FIGHT"

In recent years the Azerbaijani weightlifting team has forgotten the taste of victory. And this inevitably led to the dismissal of our weightlifting coach when the team returned empty-handed from the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Having dismissed Vahid Nazarov from the post of national team coach, the leadership of the Weightlifting Federation appointed world record holder, Olympic champion and famous Bulgarian Yanko Rusev to the post. Although the federation has set itself ambitious targets, it declined to participate in the European juniors' championship which began in Poland on 13 October. The reason for non-participation in the championship was fairly simple - the team was not yet ready for a tournament.

At the same time, Australia, which is some way from Poland, hosted the World Veterans Games, in which Azerbaijan was represented creditably by our experienced weightlifters.

The Seventh World Veterans Games were a success for the national team of Azerbaijan. In all, the so-called "mini Olympics" of veterans covered 28 sports, but our country was represented only in weightlifting. The main objective of the World Games, which were attended by 25,000 athletes from 95 countries, was to identify the most powerful veteran athletes. The Games are held every 4 years and the current round attracted the largest number of participants so far.

For the first time in the history of Azerbaijani sports, weightlifting veterans returned from the World Games with two medals. Of course, there could have been more if we had participated with our full complement. Although the public association of weightlifting veterans planned to send 6 sportsmen to the tournament, only 3 made it to Sydney because of visa problems. Nevertheless, coach Oqtay Muxtarov's team did not disappoint us. In the 56 kg weight division, Akif Aliyev was able to demonstrate all his experience and pleased the coaches. Of all the athletes aged 50-54 years, he was the only one able to lift 80 kg in the snatch and 95 kg in the jerk, which other contestants did not expect at all. With a combined result of 175 kg, he stood highest on the podium. Thus, the weightlifting veteran went down in history as the first Azerbaijani to win a gold medal at the World Games. Renewing 7 Olympic and 3 world records, Akif Aliyev worthily upheld the sporting reputation of our country.

Asif Malikov, who took part in the 35-39 years age category, also made the podium. A participant in the Summer Olympic Games in both Atlanta and Athens, the international master of sport won a bronze medal in the 69 kg weight division by lifting 100 kg in the snatch and 126 kg in the jerk. His teammate - a participant in the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games, Tofiq Heydarov came fifth with a total of 250 kg in the same age group in the 105 kg. weight division.

The Association of Weightlifting Veterans was also pleased with our athletes' performances. "I believed from the outset that our team would win many medals. However, visa problems prevented trips by Ahmad Sahbuzov and Agakarim Karimov, which disrupted our plans. Both athletes were candidates for gold medals. And Teymur Aliquliyev could have won at least a bronze medal. Nevertheless, one can only rejoice that we were able to represent our country adequately in Sydney," said chairman of the association, Natiq Agayev.

But the veterans are not going to stop here. "In 2010, the athletes will participate in important contests. We hope to return home from these tournaments with the best results," Agayev told us in an interview.

According to him, the conditions created for the development of sports in Azerbaijan boost athletes' confidence. Fans also played an important role in the weightlifters' desire to win in Sydney. According to Natiq Agayev, representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Australia and students from Azerbaijan studying here were particularly active during the performances by our athletes. The head of the Azerbaijan-Turkey Friendship House in Australia, Imadaddin Qasimov, also accompanied our team.

The weightlifting veterans are set to participate in the European Championship in Austria, which will be held in May next year, and in the World Championship in Poland scheduled for September 2010.