Elchin Ismayılov: To win Japanese judoka a good result - INTERVIEW

Baku. 23 October. REPORT.AZ/ The Azerbaijan national judo team manager Elchin Ismayilov, whose team grabbed 2 gold, 2 silver and a bronze, become the winner of the men’s team and the second in the general team standing after Japan in the Junior World Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, has answered the questions of reporters at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport. 

Report News Agency presents the interview as below:

- How the team fought as compared with the last world championship? How many medals were on target?

- Last year there was no World Championship. Because the mundial is held every two years. In previous tournament there were 3 bronze medals. This time in men’s competitions we grabbed 2 gold and 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal in women’s competition. With this result our team took the second place in  the competition that brought together 600 athletes from 83 states. We are behind only Japan. But our team took the first place in men’s competition.

- Can we say that it was easier to compete among juniors for Hidayat Heydarov who fights among adults?

- No, it’s not so. After our results in European Championship in the draw we got in very difficult group. For instance, all the strong rivals in the 60, 73 and 100 kg weight class competed with our athletes. May be they did it on purpose so that we don’t get gold medals. Nevertheless, the athletes prepared themselves very well and gained a victory. During our final fight in 55 kg weight class, referees acted a bit hesitantly. They could have given the third warning to the rival in finals, but they did not do that. It was a bit unfair. They almost snatched the gold medal out of our hands.

- In general, are you satisfied with the results?

- In general, I am happy. I had athletes for 5 weight categories. All five fought in semifinals. Four of them went to finals. I think it is a positive result. It is a good result to take the first place in men’s competition and overtake Japanese. I thank Rovnag Abdullayev and all the Azerbaijani Judo Federation (AJF) leadership for achieving this result. I congratulate our collective, assistants, medical crew for their support. They also contributed to this success. I say thank you to everyone.