he Greco-Roman Wrestling World Cup was held in Tehran. The Cup went to Azerbaijan for the first time, while the Russians took the second place. “Our rivals were the Azerbaijan national team in the final. It is a strong team which consists of experienced lightweight wrestlers. Moreover, they have promising athletes in heavyweight categories,” the main coach of the Russian team Gogi Koguashvili stated.Along with Russia and Azerbaijan, Iran, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, and Armenia competed for the Cup.
Yesterday the winners met President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who congratulated them and reminded that Azerbaijani wrestlers showed the highest results at the international competition, won two gold medals in the Olympic Games in London, and Azerbaijani wrestling was at the highest level in the world.
Wrestling is thought to be the most popular sport in Azerbaijan, a kind of national sport. Women have also demonstrated great results. The Azerbaijani authorities hope that after every big victory, children and teenagers will go in for wrestling and represent the country in the future.
At the moment the International Olympic Committee, the European Olympic Committee and sporting federations of the world note that Azerbaijan has achieved big success in sports. The country is establishing a sporting infrastructure; modern Olympic centers are being built in all regions of the country. Great Olympic facilities are constructed in Baku. World Cups, European championships are being held here; the number of medals which are won by Azerbaijani athletes in Olympic and non-Olympic sports is growing year by year. Azerbaijan had always had strong athletes, but in the Soviet period there were no big achievements.
“Today many of our 40 thousand wrestlers are training in Olympic sporting complexes in regions,” the head coach of the Greco-Roman wrestling national team, Nureddin Rajabov, said. “Athletes who won gold medals in the London Olympics and world cups are representatives of the regions. The Olympic champion Togrul Askerov is from Gyanja; Azad Aliyev is from the Nakhichevan wrestling school. Last year we took third place in the World Cup for the first time in the history of Azerbaijani sports. This time we plan to win the Cup.”
Greco-Roman wrestling has always been very popular in Azerbaijan, but in recent years a really strong team appeared there. The victory in the World Cup is thought to be a milestone event, as it confirms that it's not two-three athletes that are strong in the world, but the whole team is strong.
The athletes are expecting the same result in June, when the first European Games will take place in Baku. “Two years ago some people didn’t believe that Azerbaijan would successfully manage to pass through the preparatory work in two and a half years. Today we can say that all our sporting facilities are either ready or will be ready in the very near future,” Ilham Aliyev promised.
“On behalf of myself and my teammates, I promise that we will work harder to achieve success in the upcoming European Games, so our flag will be raised and our anthem will be played,” a member of the Greco-Roman wrestling team Rafig Huseinov said.
Stressing the importance of such victories, Ilham Aliyev stated: “The victory demonstrates the power of the Azerbaijani state and the Azerbaijani people… It is not enough to be a professional athlete to win a competition. He should strive for victory, love his homeland, have a patriotic spirit. Today the Azerbaijani youth is being raised patriotically; young people are devoted to their state and nation, they defend our borders, damage the enemy. Azerbaijani young people encourage the sporting glory of Azerbaijan in the world. I am happy about this as President of the country and the president of the NOC, because young people will rule our country in the future.”
