After the national wrestling championship, which was held without the participation of female wrestlers, the impression emerged that women’s wrestling in our country is currently going through a stagnant period and that there is simply no one to step onto the mat. Is this really the case, and is there competitive youth in women’s wrestling? Idman.Biz addressed these questions to Rovshan Umudov, head coach of the Azerbaijan U20 women’s wrestling team.
“I would say quite the opposite. At the moment, we have excellent athletes not only among seniors but also among the younger generation. Ruzanna Mammadova (62 kg), Gunay Gurbanova (59 kg), and Esra Mammadli (55 kg) are already competing successfully at senior level. Gunay faces strong competition from Fidan Babayeva. That means there are two strong athletes in the same weight category, something we have not seen for quite some time. I am not even mentioning Zahra Kerimzade (76 kg), who represents women’s wrestling in the heavyweight division. In addition, today we have 17-year-old girls who are capable of competing on equal terms with 20-year-olds,” Rovshan Umudov said.
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