THE THIRD WORLD CHAMPION

Our national taekwondo team performed at the most prestigious tournament of the year, the World Championship. Azerbaijani national team won two medals at the championship held in the South Korean city of Muzhu.

Magomed Mammadov was the first who pleased his coaches at the tournament. He was ranked the third in his category (63 kg) and thus completed his minimum program. He defeated Sardar Tahirov from Uzbekistan (10:3) and Maktar al-Magomed Dion from Senegal (26:6). Then in 1/8, he had a convincing victory over the Portuguese athlete Nino Costa - 35:17. In the quarterfinals, his opponent was the Russian athlete Izutdinov, whom Mamedov defeated 11:7. Having lost in the semi-final to Iranian Mirhashim Hussein, Mammadov was awarded a bronze medal.

Milad Kharchegani guaranteed the greatest achievement of the national team. The winner of the First European, as well as Islamic Solidarity Games again said his word in the weight category of 80 kg. In his first meeting, the Olympic medalist defeated Nigerian Jibo Bagna Kadri (30:9), and then knocked out the Japanese Chidenori Ebata (18:7). In the 1/8 finals, he left no chance for Raúl García Martinez from Spain (18:7), and in the quarter-finals he broke the resistance of Moises Hernández from the Dominican Republic (6:4). In the semi-final, Kharchegani defeated the titled Moldovan athlete Aaron Kuklai (41:5). In the decisive battle, rival of the Azerbaijani athlete was Russian Anton Kotkov. Having won more than a convincing victory with a score of 21:3, Kharchegani proved that he is the strongest in his category. He became the third world champion in the history of Azerbaijani taekwondo. Before him, the strongest in the world were Niyamaddin Pashayev and Radik Isayev.

In fact, the victory of Milad Beigi Kharchegani was expected. It is not surprising that the World Taekwondo Federation included his name in the list of favorites before the World Cup. After getting a bronze medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Kharchegani proved that his victories were not accidental. The athlete, who is going to relax after another triumph, shared his impressions with R +: "In South Korea, I realized the dream of childhood. Even then I believed that I would someday become the world champion. Later I realized that it would be very difficult. But now this is reality. My name stands among the names of world champions. I dedicate this victory to my coaches. They played a big role in my victory. I would like to express my gratitude to the national team doctors, who rendered a huge help in restoring my form to the most difficult competition after the injuries received."

Milad explained the results of the intensive work with strong training: "I try very hard at training. I imagine that I do not have a single medal. After winning the title of world champion, I have another dream - to become an Olympic champion. I am ready to train day and night to Tokyo-2020. I think the performance of the Azerbaijani national team can be assessed quite highly. We could win more medals, but we were unlucky. The competition at the World Championships, as well as at the Olympics, was extremely high. We witnessed a tense struggle for gold medals. The Azerbaijani team's victory is a testament to the fact that taekwondo is in development in our country. Both the Olympics in Rio and the Islamic Solidarity Games held in Baku proved that our taekwondo players are among the strongest in the world."

Azerbaijani team was quite successful with two medals. But at the same time, we should note our failure as well. It is surprising that Farida Azizova, Patimat Abakarova, as well as Aykhan Taghizade and world champion Radik Isayev returned from South Korea without medals. Patimat Abakarova (49 kg) did not live up to expectations, losing in the first meeting. Aykhan Taghizade and Radik Isayev remained behind the line of winners, losing in the third battle. The failure of the Olympic champion Radik Isayev is especially perplexing. Of course, he could not win another gold medal. But no medal raises questions. The loss in the 1/8 finals to the athlete from Gabon Antonia Obamea (13:15) cannot be perceived as a natural.

Thanks to one gold and one bronze medal, the Azerbaijani team was ranked the 7th in the team list. South Korean team scored 5-1-4. Turkey has two gold and one silver medals and is the second strongest team of the tournament. The third was the national team of Serbia, which has two gold medals.