"We usually don't start the races well."
Idman.biz reports that Vugar Azimov, general secretary of the Azerbaijan Basketball Federation, said this to journalists at the welcoming ceremony held at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport.
He commented on the success of Azerbaijan's women's 3x3 basketball team at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Hong Kong: "The injury of their players in the first match against the Chilean team ended in our favor. The second game was tense against the Mongolian team. Tiffany Hayes was injured in that match, so we didn't play her against the Netherlands. Because there was a risk, if he played injured, he would not be able to reach the semi-finals. We did not know what we did after the final. We saw everything later on the videos. We used everything to the maximum. The main goal of the federation was to win the tournament in Hong Kong. We are very happy that we achieved our dream."
- If you had fought against the Netherlands in the semi-final, not against the Polish national team, would it still have been possible to get a license?
- We wanted to face the Netherlands in the semi-finals. Although they are the last European champions, they are a team more suited to our style of play. But we faced the Polish national team and got the desired result.
- Will you participate in the Paris-2024 Summer Olympic Games with the same team, or will there be some changes?
- This is a very relevant question. Almost all journalists have addressed this question to me since yesterday. There are 5 people in our team. 4 of them will go to Paris. Of course, this is not the last race. A world tour will be held in Gabala at the beginning of June. The coaching staff will announce which basketball player is suitable at that moment.
- The world tour will be held in the northern region, unlike last year. Gabala, Guba, Baku, etc. What is the reason for this?
- The main reason for this change is to spread the basketball sport in the regions, to provide mass, especially to increase the interest of children in this sport.
It should be noted that our national team will be represented for the first time in the team competition at the Olympic Games.
Banuchichek Huseynli
idman.biz
