“Our federation was also satisfied with Tarakanov’s work.”

These remarks were made by Rafig Huseynov, who serves as the Greco-Roman wrestling coordinator at the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation (AWF), in an interview with Offsideplus.az.

He commented on the departure of head coach Aleksandr Tarakanov from the national team:

“Tarakanov was a strong coach and a professional specialist. During his tenure, we achieved quite good results as a team. I myself became a two-time world champion and a two-time European champion during that period. I also won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games. I believe that Tarakanov was one of the most successful coaches in the history of Azerbaijani wrestling. The results he achieved fully justify this opinion.”

Huseynov also noted that the Russian specialist approached his work with great responsibility:

“Despite being much older than me, we always had a close friendship. However, during training sessions he was a very strict coach. He took training extremely seriously and demanded that his instructions be carried out with 100 percent precision. He was a specialist with deep knowledge of wrestling, and I always felt his support. On behalf of myself and the team, I thank Tarakanov.”

It should be noted that under the leadership of Aleksandr Tarakanov, who served as head coach since October 2019, the national team became European champions twice and world champions twice, and also won one bronze medal at the “Tokyo 2020” and “Paris 2024” Summer Olympic Games.