Interview with Natig Hajiyev, an Azerbaijani wrestling referee who has ended his career, for Report news agency.
– How did you get into wrestling?
– I was involved in wrestling myself. In 1995, I started preparing athletes for competitions. At that time, I would observe referees and really liked what they did. I decided to become an enforcer of justice myself. Once the federation created the opportunity, I began this work. The head of the Referee Board of the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation, Garib Aliyev, helped me a lot in this process. I had just come from the region back then and had little experience, but he gave me strong support.
– Do you want to leave wrestling completely?
– No, I'm only stepping away from refereeing. I want to train new kids in my hometown, Goychay. I was involved in this work in the past as well. Or perhaps I’ll provide moral support to the teachers working there. In short, I will stay in wrestling.
– How would you assess your refereeing career over the years?
– I faced many challenges during my refereeing years. The previous leadership of the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation made it difficult for me to take exams and receive appointments for international competitions. Even though I told them many times that I knew Russian and English, they didn’t take me seriously. They assumed I was lying because I lived in a region. But later, the situation changed. A letter was sent from Baku to United World Wrestling, saying there was an experienced referee here and asking them to allow me to take the exams. I received a positive response, and I passed the first exam successfully. I also passed the exams for the second and first categories. Unfortunately, I could not pass the exam for the Olympic category.
– Are you satisfied with the level of Azerbaijani wrestling referees?
– We have very good referees. In particular, we have many promising young ones. Most of them already hold Olympic-level referee licenses. They are all working on themselves. I truly believe in the bright future of wrestling refereeing in Azerbaijan. Even our third-category referees sometimes officiate better than some second-category referees in Europe. When our referees officiate a match, it is immediately noticeable, and they are highly respected.
– Who are the top three wrestlers of all time in Azerbaijan, in your opinion?
– Farid Mansurov, Haji Aliyev, and if we look a bit further into the past, I would name Mahyaddin Allahverdiyev.
– You didn’t mention our Olympic champions Toghrul Asgarov and Sharif Sharifov...
– I think Toghrul became an Olympic champion thanks to a God-given talent. It seems that while others became champions through hard training and effort, Toghrul had natural talent from the very beginning. Of course, Toghrul Asgarov is a very valuable wrestler to me as well.
– Were there any matches in your 30-year refereeing career that you will never forget?
– I’ve officiated many such matches. I was appointed to referee the final of the World Championship in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was a very tough and high-stakes match. Also, in my last tournament – the U-17 World Championship in Athens, Greece – I officiated the final between Uzbekistan and Japan. I believe I did a very good job in that match.
– Have you ever made decisions during your refereeing career that you later regretted?
– Any referee who claims they've never made a mistake is lying. Every referee makes mistakes. I have had such moments several times. I made a decision, one of the athletes won, and after watching the replay, I felt ashamed of the decision I made. Everyone is human and can make mistakes.
– Is it more difficult to officiate the Azerbaijani championship or international competitions?
– It's more difficult to officiate domestic competitions. In my opinion, refereeing the final match of the Azerbaijani Championship is harder than officiating the decisive match of the World Championship. I even consider the level of Azerbaijani wrestling to be higher than the global arena. Our athletes are highly respected when they compete in world and European championships. I’ve personally witnessed how others fear and take our athletes seriously – and rightly so. Even if an Azerbaijani wrestler faces an Olympic champion, their coach is always visibly worried. Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a weak Azerbaijani wrestler.
Idman.biz
