The leadership and coaching staff of the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation have discussed the results from the World Championship in freestyle wrestling.

Xetaq Qazyumov stated that a conversation took place with the federation's leadership immediately after the meeting, and the coaching staff agreed with the criticisms regarding the team's performance:

"I believe that the conditions created by the federation for us and the results of the training process we underwent throughout the year should not have led to this. We were hoping for better results and better rewards, including a gold medal. Some of our wrestlers did not demonstrate the expected quality. This also applies to the matches for the bronze medal. Our team was not poorly prepared, but we could not fully prove ourselves. Of course, someone must take responsibility for these results. I take this responsibility upon myself and apologise to Azerbaijani sports fans, promising that we will do everything necessary to change this situation," he said.

Qazyumov noted that athletes who have not performed well for a long time will be removed from the team, and priority will be given to young wrestlers during selections:

"We have wrestlers who have proven themselves by winning the national championship and in international qualifying competitions. The athletes at the World Championship are currently the best in their weight categories in the country. Of course, we gave some of our experienced athletes another chance, but we will remove those who have not proven themselves for a long time, and even if they lose, we will prioritise young athletes in the selection process. It is important for us that athletes fight until the end, and some wrestlers have shown very poor performance in this regard," Qazyumov emphasised.

He also highlighted that the wrestlers are responsible for their performances on the mat:

"We did everything we could, but the wrestlers go out on the mat and are accountable for themselves. Perhaps in some cases we did not find the right approach, but in any case, the wrestler must fight until the end," the expert stated.

Qazyumov specifically mentioned the importance of producing a world champion in freestyle wrestling:

"It has been a long time since we had a world champion in freestyle wrestling. When we look at the medals, we see that we have improved our results, but we must be maximalists and aim to win gold medals. We came here to win gold medals. As you can see, the competition is very strong. We need wrestlers with a champion's character who fight like champions."

He also revealed that changes in the team are planned for the next year:

"For next year, we plan to move Ali Tsokayev to 97 kilograms and Kenan Heybatov to 74 kilograms. We will also consider Nuraddin Novruzov's weight category. We will already start planning for the Olympic Games preparation," Xetaq Qazyumov added.