Azernews.Az

By Trend

Trend news agency interviewed President of the National Karate Federation of Azerbaijan, Honored Master of Sports, Member of the National Olympic Committee, Holder of the eighth-degree black belt in karate, Yashar Bashirov.

- Mr. Bashirov, how do you assess the level of preparation of our karate team?

- In general, an athlete must always be in a good shape and taking into account that the Olympic Games will start soon, not a single day must be wasted. Each of our athletes has potential. It is one thing when a person, after reaching a certain level, ceases to work on himself, but it is a different thing when a person is constantly developing. Each of our athletes is developing.

Today, more than 10 of our karatekas are among 50 strongest karatekas in the world, five are in the top ten, three of them are the leaders among the world's best. In my opinion, the athletes who entered the top ten will be the first to get a license for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Also, I'd like to point out that our team has the world's best karateka (Raphael Aghayev). In our country there is no other kind of sports, except karate, where the representative of Azerbaijan is the best athlete in the world. Therefore, the level of training in karate is always high.

-What can you say about Azerbaijan’s attention and care to such a kind of sports as karate?

- I would like to stress that one of 20 kinds of sports in the European Games was karate thanks to the support and assistance of the president of the country. During the European Games in Azerbaijan, President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach was watching the karate competitions for two days and saw the approach to karate in such a prestigious sporting event as the European Games. After the Games, he realized that the Olympics can not do without such a kind of sports as karate.

European Games have become a great impetus for the development of karate. This is not only my opinion. President of the World Karate Federation Antonio Espinos also stressed that. We and Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov, Vice President of the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee Chingiz Huseynzade attended the event, during which karate was included in the Olympic Games. Following the event, when we conveyed congratulations to Antonio Espinos, he stressed that this decision was made thanks to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev because the first European Games rendered great support and gave an impulse to karate.

- Our athletes have recently returned with medals from the Karate 1-Premier League, which was held in Berlin. In your opinion, which fight was the most difficult?

- In general, there were no easy fights at this tournament. In my opinion, the most difficult fight was between Rafael Aghayev and Japanese athlete Ken Nishimura in the semifinals. Earlier, Rafael Aghayev lost to Nishimura three times, but this time he won - 2:0.

Moreover, there was a complicated fight between the captain of the team Shahin Atamov and the French athlete in 1/4 finals. Yes, Shahin couldn't win, but his opponent was very strong, and also the referee was unfair to him. Irina Zaretska’s fights were also very memorable and complicated.