European champions return home

Our freestyle wrestling team, which took 1st place in the team event at the U23 European Championship held in Tirana, the capital of Albania, has returned home.

A welcoming ceremony for the continental champions was held at Heydar Aliyev International Airport.

European champion Arseniy Djioyev (86 kg) said the following at the briefing:

“I would like to thank you for welcoming us and supporting us. I am very happy to have won the gold medal. We would like to express our gratitude to the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation, as well as the Ministry of Youth and Sports, for creating all the necessary conditions for us. We prepared for the competition at a high level. I would also like to express my special gratitude to head coach Khetag Gazyumov and senior coach Jabrayil Hasanov. Against the backdrop of all this support, we became European champions in the team event. After that, we will hold a training camp in Guba and head to the senior European Championship.”

Murad Hagverdiyev (65 kg), the third in Europe, commented on his success as follows:

“The competition was very difficult and intense. I went to Tirana to win the championship, but I was not lucky. The main thing is that I did not remain without a medal. Hopefully, I will prepare even harder in the upcoming competitions and raise the flag of Azerbaijan even higher. I would like to express my gratitude to my parents, my personal coach Faig Khalilova, and the coaches of the national team, who have been supporting me. Last year, I had a serious operation on my shoulder. During the training sessions before the competition, I injured my shoulder again. Despite this, I wrestled with this injury, although it was difficult. I think that it was the injury to my shoulder that deprived me of the championship.”

Another wrestler, Rahman Imanov (57 kg), who finished the European Championship with a bronze medal, also shared his impressions of his first major success:

“Thank God, I did not return without a medal. I lost to a Russian wrestler in the first match. Since he reached the final, I went to the consolation match. I won against a wrestler from North Macedonia with a score of 11:0. The match for the bronze medal was tough. I won against my Ukrainian opponent with a score of 8:6. My next goal is to prepare as much as possible for the World Championship and become a champion.”

It should be noted that the team, led by senior coach Jabrail Hasanov and coaches Taymuraz Kokoyev and Sharif Sharifov, won gold medals in the competition, with Arseniy Dzhioyev (86 kg), Jeyhun Allahverdiyev (61 kg), Kenan Heybatov (70 kg), Aganazar Novruzov (74 kg) and Farid Jabbarov (79 kg) winning silver medals, and Rahman Imanov (61 kg), Murad Hagverdiyev (65 kg), Sadiq Mustafazadeh (92 kg) and Yusif Dursunov (125 kg) winning bronze medals.