RECORD OF MEDALS

The European Championship in Greco-Roman, freestyle and women's wrestling held in the Russian city of Kaspiysk was marked by significant achievements of Azerbaijani wrestlers. Our athletes won 8 medals of the previous championship but this time returned home with 18 awards. They set a new record with 4 gold, 5 silver, and 9 bronze medals.

First, we should mention Haji Aliyev, who won the second gold medal at the European Championship. After three fights before the finals, the world champion demonstrated that he was ready for the European Championship. In the final meeting with a Russian athlete Ilyas Bekbulatov, Haji managed to reverse the course of the battle scoring 7 points against 2. Thanks to determination and skills, Haji Aliyev finally won with a score of 8-7, becoming the European champion. He felt not well after the final fight and was immediately given medical assistance. At the same time, his rival also requested medical assistance. Despite all the efforts, it was not possible to restore Bekbulatov to normal state, hence he did not participate in the awarding ceremony. The success of Haji was also a triumph of the Azerbaijani wrestling school.

The first gold medal in the career of Greco-Roman wrestler Eldaniz Azizli (55 kg) deserves a special statement. His high performance during the European Championship secured his place in the national team.

Georgy Edisherashvili became the gold medallist in freestyle wrestling by demonstrating his clear advantage in all fights.

Among the women athletes, it is necessary to note the phenomenon of Maria Stadnik (50 kg). She has once again demonstrated her professionalism proving that she had no equal in this weight category. The eight-fold European champion, Stadnik was the best on the carpet. Her triumphal victory in the finals (in 32 seconds!), earned Stadnik a storm of applause from local fans.

In Greco-Roman wrestling, the performance of Rasul Junayev (72 kg), who planned to finish his sports career after the Rio Olympics for health reasons, deserves high appreciation. Junaev became a silver medallist of the championship. Despite a leading score of 5-1 in the final meeting with Adam Kurak, Rasul’s mistake at the very end left the wrestler without a gold medal.

The following is the list of our athletes awarded the silver medals of the European Championship: Murad Mammadov (60 kg), Elis Manolova (65 kg), Alexander Gostiyev (86 kg), and Sharif Sharifov (92 kg). Bronze medals were awarded to Elvin Mursaliyev (77 kg), Rafig Huseynov (82 kg), Alyona Kolesnik (57 kg), Tatyana Omelchuk (59 kg), Sabira Aliyeva (76 kg), Murtuzali Muslimov (70 kg), Jabrail Hasanov (79 kg) kg), Nurmuhammed Hajiyev (97 kg), and Jamaladdin Mammadov (59 kg). Azerbaijan became the third strongest team of the continent.

Vice-president of the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation, the head coach of the national team in freestyle wrestling Firdovsi Umudov highly appreciated the performance of national athletes: "It was a tremendous success of our athletes. We won a record number of medals. We always try to prove that Azerbaijan is a sporting country. After the World Cup in Iowa, our goal was to demonstrate a successful performance at the European Championship. Certainly, there were some mistakes. Murad Mammadov lost in the finals, having the advantage of 5 points. I think this was due to his inexperience. Rasul Junayev had health problems and injuries. They completed the preparatory period successfully. We will analyse the mistakes with all of our coaches. Such errors are unforgivable at the Olympics. The training process is the same for everyone. Nurmuhammed Hajiyev chose wrong tactics in the second half. He made a mistake despite winning with the score 7-0. Several other our athletes made the same mistakes. In general, I am satisfied with the performance of our athletes. 18 medals at such a prestigious competition is a high result. We have once again proved that Azerbaijan is a sporting country. At the same time, our athletes are considered the strongest on the continent. As an official of the federation, I congratulate the coaches of all teams. However, we cannot be satisfied with the results achieved. It is necessary to analyse the mistakes and to conduct medical examination of the injured athletes. After a short rest, the national team will start to prepare again. I would not like to talk about the changes. We have a team that goes to the competition, formed after the completion of training."

In his interview with R+, the three-time world champion and two-time European champion Haji Aliyev confessed about the appearance of health problems after the final meeting: "We hid this moment. The fight was hard. I am very glad that I won. After the final, my head began to spin. It took several minutes to recover. The opponent also became ill. Therefore, he did not go to the awards ceremony. His medal was given to the coach. The excitement in the final meeting was great. Local fans provided my opponent with powerful support. Therefore, victory was won with great difficulty. I completed the trainers' setups. The next goal is the gold medal of the World Championship ".

Recall that in a few months the Azerbaijani team will participate in the World Championships, which will be held in Budapest.