Interview of Eldeniz Azizli, Greek-Roman wrestler of Azerbaijan national team, to Idman.biz website
- You were awarded with the individual scholarship of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for your long-term effective activity in the development of sports in Azerbaijan. What are your impressions?
- After the order of Mr. President Ilham Aliyev, I am sharing my joy with your website first. In all my interviews, I emphasized that I will try to become the world champion for the third time. Of course, I have participated in many events attended by the head of the country. He always helped us to a high degree, and paid attention and care to us. He solved all our problems. It is a great honor that Mr. President has awarded me with an individual scholarship. I express my gratitude to the head of the country. After that, I will protect the sports honor of Azerbaijan.
- Can we say that this will be an additional motivation for your career?
- It is a great feeling of pride that the head of the country directly appreciates you for your work. Mr. President was always with the athletes. We always get extra incentive from it. I hope it will be even better from now on.
- How do you evaluate the past year for yourself?
- Becoming world champion for the third time in 2023 is a success. But I can consider "silver" in the European Championship to be a failure. Because I was injured there, I could not participate in the training sessions. This also showed its effect.
- How are the preparations for the new year going? What competitions are you thinking of participating in?
- We will participate in the ranking tournament in Croatia in the first days of January. After that we will stay there for the training session. The most important for us this year are the qualification tournaments in Baku and Turkey to win a license for the Paris-2024 Summer Olympic Games. We will get ready there.
- Then you changed your weight category and it was confirmed that you will compete in Olympic weight?
- We will make an exact decision on this during the training camp in January.
- Have you discussed about this with the coaches?
- There have been no talks about this yet. We're not exactly put together. I did not participate in the training sessions because I participated in the Bundesliga in Germany. We'll talk about it when we get together next month. A complete decision will be made after the composition of the national team is known.
- We have 2 licenses for the Paris-2024 Summer Olympic Games in Greco-Roman type. How much can the national team increase this number?
- I hope that the presence of the European qualifying tournament in Baku will give us additional strength. We will wrestle better within native walls. We will expect full support from sports fans. We will have at least 3 licenses.
- You are watching the Azerbaijan championship as a spectator. Most of the participants here are young people. How would you rate their performance?
- I think we will pass the baton to them. After us, they will protect the sports honor of Azerbaijan even better.
Emin Aga
Idman.biz
