The wrestlers of the Azerbaijani national team will not compete in the World Wrestling Championship that will start in Paris on August 2017, the Caucasian Knot reports.
The Azerbaijani sportsmen are indeed boycotting the world competition in a sign of protest as they have not received their salaries for over a year. The members of a the national team held a protest on July 28 at the base of the national team located at the Excelsior hotel. Togrul Askerov, an olympic champion, was among the protesters.
“At the last Olympics we won 9 medals. Now we are faced with serious problems. And before the world championship there is not enough time,” the wrestler Gadzhi Aliyev was quoted by
media
as saying.
According to him, the athletes were assured that everyone would be paid after the Islamic Games, but they did not get their money.
Another wrestler, Haji Aliyev, complained about training conditions and training camps,
Turan
writes. According to the Caucasian Knot, also doctors and masseurs have not received their salaries.
Similar problems exist in the freestyle wrestling team, however, the free style wrestlers intend to solve them and go to the World Cup at their own expense, reports
Vest.az
.
Greco-Roman wrestlers will boycott the youth world championship, which will be held on August 1-6 in Finland. Again, the cause is the financial problems that the team has.
A spokeswoman of the Ministry of Sport and Youth, Mamedovasaid that they are aware of the ongoing protest. However, she said, the wrestlers complain not to the ministry, but to the federation. So far, the Federation has not commented on the protest, informs Contact.az.