"I really liked the performance of the judokas."

This was stated to Idman.biz by Olympic judo champion Nazim Huseynov.

The former coach of the Azerbaijani national team evaluated the performance of our team at the European Championship held in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. Huseynov said that our judokas were able to show themselves in a good light in this competition: "If there is no gold medal, it does not mean that the team performed poorly. If we approach it individually, Ahmad Yusifov (60 kg) could have been the champion in the end if he had not fallen into a painful trick in the match with the French athlete Luka Mkheidze. Rashid Mammadaliyev, who competed in 73 kg, also managed to show himself in a good light. Georgian Tato Grigalashvili was afraid of Zelim Tckaev (81 kg). That's why he was so happy when he won. It seems to me that there was no trick there. Tckaev wanted to throw him, Grigalashvili was given an ippon because he moved. If Tckaev had reached the final, he would have been the champion for sure."

According to him, Olympic champion Zelim Kotsoev (100 kg) is in good shape: "If he can continue like this, I see him as a two-time Olympic champion. Considering that Zelim is 26 years old, he can bring results. We need a two-time Olympic champion. Murad Fatiyev (90 kg) was squeezed, they shouldn't have warned him. Now they have turned judo into a business. They give a warning as soon as they grab his arm once. Ushangi Kokauri (100) is not bad either, but age is already taking its toll. How many times has he reached the semi-finals, but he is in the "top three" or "top five"."

The experienced expert also revealed his expectations from the upcoming World Championship: "In conclusion, I would like to note that I was satisfied with the results. This is the first time we have brought five medals from the European Championship. The World Championship is ahead. I think we will have at least one world champion this time."

It should be noted that the Azerbaijani national team, which won one silver and four bronze medals at the European Championship, finished the competition in 10th place in the team standings.

Aytaj Sahed
Idman.biz