ALL HOPES ON ATHENS

Poor physical condition was one of the main reasons for the unsuccessful performance of the Azerbaijani national boxing team in the Olympic qualification tournament in Pescara, according to president of the National Federation, Agacan Abiyev, in analyzing the weak performance of the team in Italy, where they won just one place in Beijing, thanks to the efforts of Sahin Imranov.

Shortage…

Abiyev acknowledged that the guys were in good shape, but it is one thing to do well in training and another to prosper in competition. "We were planning to win three places, but only Sahin Imranov managed to fulfil his mission. We pinned great hopes on Romal Amanov and Elcin Alizada, but they lost decisive contests for a place in Beijing. I think that this is due to the poor physical condition of our guys, and they still have work to do," Abiyev stressed.

At the same time, the federation president admitted that the coaches had made a mistake in taking Aslan Bayramov (69 kg) to the contest, because he lost in the first round. "The contest showed that he is not ready for the international arena at the moment, although he is our national champion. So I am not really happy with him, as with Elcin Alizada, who also needs to practise more," said Abiyev. Expanding on the poor physical condition of our sportsmen, Abiyev pointed to the problem of poor boxing by the Azerbaijani athletes in the fourth round of every fight. "In the first three rounds, our guys did well, but were simply out of breath in the fourth round," the president went on.

Speaking about the decision to bar European champion (54 kg) Ali Aliyev from the contest because of problems with his papers, Abiyev pointed out that the International Boxing Association (AIBA) had taken quite a tough position on the issue. For the same reason, a semi-finalist in the tournament, David Arjba (91+ kg), failed to continue in the tournament after he beat England's David Price in the quarter-finals and was one step away from a place. "Firstly, England filed an appeal against the outcome of the fight and it was rejected. But then they resorted to dirty tricks to achieve their goal and, unfortunately, they succeeded," Abiyev complained. At the same time, he pointed out that Aliyev and Arjba are likely to attend the final qualifier in Athens. "The likelihood of AIBA giving the go-ahead for their participation is 80 per cent," Abiyev said.

He also spoke about the latest failures of Azerbaijani boxers in the international arena. "For some reason, the coaches and boxers became complacent after they achieved great results in the world and European championships and in the Olympic Games. The world championships in Chicago proved that all is not well with the team. Relations between the sportsmen and coaches in our national team were too friendly and this could not go on. For this reason, I think that Nariman Abdullayev, who heads the team, replaced Mammad Eyvazov in good time," Abiyev said, sharing his impressions. In turn, the chief coach of the national team, Nariman Abdullayev, observed that there is very little time left before the final tournament in Athens to make any drastic changes to the team. "We will keep working. It is difficult to say anything about the number of possible Olympic places, but I think that we are quite capable of winning two or three" the coach said. Abiyev, however, made a small correction: "I think that we will win three or four places in Athens."

Sad statistics

In general, the situation in our national team can only be described as disastrous because, ahead of the final qualifier in Athens, we have only two vacancies. In order to recognise the abyss that separates our team from the leaders of the Olympic competition, it is necessary to cite figures. The statistics given below do not make good reading.

As regards Europe, the Russians are unmatched; they already have nine of a possible eleven vacancies. Ukrainian boxers come second, as they have already won nine places in Beijing. They are followed by England, which has seven vacancies. At the same time, the national teams of Italy, Armenia, France and Germany have four licences, whereas Turkey and Hungary have only three. Although what matters is not the number of licences, but the quality of performance in competition, we cannot but admit that the more athletes our country sends to the Olympics, the better chances our sportsmen have. We should not go too far into these examples: it is enough to recall Fuad Aslanov (51 kg) who left for Athens as a little-known athlete, but returned as a bronze winner from the 2004 Games.

In the last Olympic Games, our team was represented by nine boxers, which cannot be compared to the situation today. Much has changed since then - Fuad Aslanov and Rovsan Huseynov (60 kg) have ended their careers, while Ali Ismayilov (81 kg) has turned professional and Agasi Mammadov is still far from his best condition. So a number of weight categories are quite problematic, especially the categories up to 48, 54 and 75 kg. So the Olympic prospects of our national teams are uncertain and will only become clear after the final contest in Greece.

The holder of an Olympic place, Sahin Imranov, said that there was a special aura to the contest in Italy as the audience was literally amazed. "They like boxing in the Apennines, and it was especially pleasant to fight in this atmosphere. Every fight was interesting, especially against the German boxer in the semi-finals. He is quite a strong athlete, but I beat him confidently and won a place in Beijing," the boxer said. In the final, he decided not to fight to the very end, and there was a reason for that. "When the score was 8:7 in my favour, I decided not to continue the fight. I was afraid that I might have injured my hand, because it hurt me. Besides that, there was no point in continuing the fight because I already had the place. So I have to gather information about my rivals because Beijing is just around the corner."

Down with the referee…

"Actually, we could have done better and won three or four places in Beijing. For example, Romal Amanov (60 kg), Elcin Alizada (91 kg) and Emil Maharramov (64 kg) could have won their fights but, for some reason, the referees disallowed their punches. Emil lost because of a misunderstanding: after he avoided his rival's punch, the referee decided to stop the fight and declare his opponent the winner. He thought that Maharramov had been knocked down, although this was not the case," Sahin pointed out.

The boxer admitted that he still cannot understand why heavyweight David Arjba (91+ kg), who was one step away from a place, was barred from the contest. "The organizers said that Arjba had competed for the national youth team of Russia, which is why he was barred. We were all mystified. Even the president of the National Federation, Agacan Abiyev, failed to rectify the situation, despite his authority in the boxing world. They also told us that he will be allowed to participate in Athens. What does that mean?" Imranov asked.

Speaking about his plans, the athlete admitted that he will take a little break after the Italian contest and will then start practising again. "I will support our guys at the final licensing tournament in Athens, because I want our team to get stronger, in that case our chances of winning Olympic awards will be greater. I know that we have a strong national team capable of achieving much. If I had not cut my eyebrow in the fight against Russia's Aleksey Tishchenko in the last Games, I would have been at least a medallist. It did not work then, but I hope that I can achieve my goal this time, especially as I am a determined character and am used to setting myself higher tasks," Imranov said.

At the same time, he did not rule out ending his career after the Olympics, although a lot will depend on the outcome of the Games. "Actually, you can practise amateur boxing until you are 34. Sometimes you even meet athletes who go into ring at 38, so everything depends on your abilities. But I will probably end my career after the Olympics. Although if I win a medal, I will probably go on," Imranov concluded.