The result achieved by Azerbaijan's junior judo team at the European Cup is positive, but it could have been better.
As reported by İdman.Biz, Azerbaijan junior national team head coach Rustam Alimli said this while assessing the team's performance at the tournament.
"In several weight categories, our athletes made mistakes, and as you know, judo does not forgive such things. I expected more medals, at least four golds. In the end, we won two gold medals, but we still finished first in the men's team standings. In the under-73 kg category, our judoka was stronger, but after making a mistake, he lost in the final. In the under-90 kg category, one of the leaders of his weight class also competed, but he only finished third. We expected a gold medal from him as well," Alimli said.
At the same time, the coach noted that some athletes pleasantly surprised him. One of them was Mehdi Abbasov, who competed in the under-81 kg category.
"His previous two tournaments did not go well, but at this competition he managed to pull himself together, showed a high level of technique and took first place," he added.
Alimli stressed that the European Cup served as a selection event for forming the squad ahead of the European Championships, which will be held in September. A meeting between the junior team's head coach and Richard Trautman is expected soon, after which the final squad will be determined.
"We have to select the nine strongest athletes. We will base the decision on who has performed best this year. After that, there will be a two-week training camp in the region and another two-week camp in Baku. We have medal chances in every weight category. Last year, the men's team finished first in the team standings. We will try at least to repeat that result," he said.
The specialist also noted that the national team has several promising judokas who could soon move up to the senior level and begin achieving results there.
"For us, the most important thing is that they start delivering results at the senior level. In this sense, our main task is to properly adapt them to the transition to senior judo. We are confident that several more judokas will complete this transition this year, and next season they will fully compete among seniors. I am sure they will be able to make a strong statement at that level as well," Alimli concluded.
