Ilgar Mamedov to Vestnik Kavkaza: nothing is impossible in sport

Russian saberfencers Sofia Velikaya, Yana Egoryan, Yulia Gavrilova,Ekaterina Dyachenko have defeated their Ukrainian counterparts 45:30. Vestnik Kavkaza spoke to the head coach of the Russian Fencing, Ilgar Mammadov, who explained what helped our fencers to win.

"Certainly, the athletes’ had good fighting spirit all the day. They were one united team. The team performed pretty well and won gold," the head coach of the Russian team said.

‘‘It would not be right to talk about who performed better and who was not so good. When a team wins it means that all athletes performed well. The main thing is the spirit fellowship within a team. It is extremely important,’’ Ilgar Mamedov noted.

He also said that fencing is on the rise today.

"There are a lot of strong teams at the Olympics and no weak teams at all. If our team is able to overcome the first quarterfinals against the national team of Ukraine, it will be able to go on. In this case, the next team may be Italy or Britain. It depends on who wins in the quarterfinals. They all have chances. Nothing is impossible. If they stick to the coach’s advice they will be able to participate in the next stage,’’ he said.