"Before the competition, we had a very strong training camp in Kazakhstan."
Ruslan Nurullayev (72 kg), a member of the Azerbaijani national team in Greco-Roman wrestling made up of young people, told Idman.biz.
The athlete who won the only gold medal for Azerbaijan in the Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov tournament, which is traditionally held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, commented on his victory. 20-year-old Nurullayev, who climbed to the top of the podium for the second time in a row in a similar competition, said that the tournament was more difficult than the European Championship: "The level of the competition was high. Strong competitors also came. In the first match, I defeated a Russian, then a Kazakh and a Kyrgyz wrestler and reached the final. In the decisive match, I won against the local athlete Tair Amangeldi. I won it last year. But this time it was more difficult. I did my job more responsibly."
He said that his goal is to win a gold medal at the U-23 European Championship, which will be held in Baku on May 20-26: "There should be no other choice than to climb to the top of the podium in front of the home fans. I will try to do my best. The competition in Kazakhstan was also a very good preparation before the European Championship. Asian countries use a very nice trick. 18 days of training camp with them worked very well. We took good things from them, and they took good things from us."
It should be noted that Kazakhstan's Ismayil Rzayev (82 kg) won a silver medal, Huseyin Savadov (55 kg) and Muhammad Shukurzade (63 kg) won a bronze medal.
Emin Aga
Idman.biz
