Azerbaijan’s Wrestling Federation releases statement on allegations of Italian freestyle wrestler Chamizo

The Wrestling Federation of Azerbaijan released a statement regarding allegations of Italian freestyle wrestler Frank Chamizo, Report informs citing the press service of the Federation.

The statement reads:

“On April 5-7, the European Wrestling Olympic Qualification tournament was held at the National Gymnastics Arena. This tournament was organized for the first time in Baku. In general, the mentioned arena hosted a wrestling competition for the first time.

Despite all this, the organization of the competition held by the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation with the support of other sports organizations and state agencies was highly appreciated. It is no coincidence that Nenad Lalovich, the President of United World Wrestling, (UWW), in his letter of thanks addressed to our federation, noted that the organizational activities are carried out at the highest level, that the employees and medical staff, volunteers approached their work with maximum sensitivity, expressing his belief that Azerbaijan will host prestigious wrestling competitions in the future as well.

Media representatives also showed great interest in the Olympic license tournament. Along with local journalists, foreign reporters also visited our country and covered the tournament live. In total, more than 100 media representatives registered for the European Olympic Qualification tournament, which was shown live in different countries.

The interest of fans in the tournament was also great. Especially on the last day, the National Gymnastics Arena was sold out. This is a clear example of the love for wrestling in our country.

In the European Olympic Qualifying tournament, 36 athletes in a total of 3 styles of wrestling won a license for Paris-2024. 5 of these licenses were won by Azerbaijani athletes. In freestyle wrestling, licenses were obtained for the Olympic Games in 57, 65, 74, 86 and 125 kg weight classes. Neutral athletes (Russia and Belarus) received a total of 13 licenses, Türkiye 3, Georgia, Ukraine and Germany 2, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Finland, France, Lithuania and Romania 1.

Turan Bayramov defeated Italian Frank Chamizo in the semi-final at 74 kg and obtained an Olympic license. However, Chamizo did not accept the defeat and made a heavy accusation. Chamizo said without any evidence that he was offered a bribe of $300,000 to lose this bout.

It should be noted that UWW has started to investigate the referee management of this bout and a relevant decision will be made in the coming days. At the same time, we state that according to the rules of Duty to report, Chamizo should have made his notes in the protest protocol immediately about the such a bribe offer. Now he must either prove his claim or state that this claim is baseless.

Please note that the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation is always committed to the principles of Fair Play. We will take legal steps against this accusation of Chamizo and we will make an official appeal to the United World Wrestling.