“I am proud of myself, I am very happy. I became the first Azerbaijani parataekwondo player to become a Paralympic champion.”
Oku.Az This is what our parataekwondo player Imamaddin Khalilov, who won the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, said when sharing his opinion on the championship.
“I came to Paris as the world leader. I finished almost all my last competitions as a winner. I was the last world champion and two-time European champion. I was also lucky enough to win the Paralympic championship. I want to thank our people. I was reading the comments written during the break between fights. These comments motivated me, I felt their confidence.
I had a tough fight against an Uzbek athlete in the semi-finals. The last time I beat him was in the final of the world championship. Here I managed to win again.
In the final I met my Turkish athlete brother. Brotherhood won. I would like to thank the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Taekwondo Federation of Azerbaijan, the National Paralympic Committee and my club “Neftchi” IK, who contributed to this. The greatest thanks to Mr. President. Ilham Aliyev and our first vice president Mehriban Aliyeva As a result of your care for our sport, today we play our national anthem and wave our flag in Paris.”
It is worth noting that Imameddin Khalilov (70 kg, K44) and Sabir Zeynalov (58 kg, K44) won a bronze medal in the national parataekwondo team.
