Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The thrill of winning an Olympic medal, despite being gold, silver or bronze, is what athlete’s dreams are made of.

Eight members of Azerbaijan’s national team taking part in the 2016 Rio Games have already experienced this pleasure, bringing four silver and four bronze medals to the country.

The latest silver in the Country’s Olympic medal haul was secured by canoe sprinter Valentin Demyanenko in Men's Canoe Single 200m.

In the Rio Olympic Games, Azerbaijan also established an absolute record, as the national athletes brought the country Olympic medals in more kinds of sports than in previous Summer Olympic Games.

The bronze won by national female taekwondo fighter Patimat Abakarova also become Azerbaijan’s first Olympic medal in this kind of sport. Abakarova defeated French Yasmina Aziez 7-2 in the 49kg bronze medal bout on Day 13.

“We came to Rio for gold,” said Patimat. “But, I failed to win the first fight. Then, the athlete from Serbia reached the final, and I had a chance to compete for bronze medal. In the second fight I defeated two-time Olympic champion from China. I was able to concentrate on this fight and won. And in the way to bronze I won French athlete,” she said.

In early hours of the same day, Azerbaijan’s female wrestler Maria Stadnik sealed the country’s another silver in the women's 48 kg weight category, missing gold with a last-second two-point takedown by Japan’s Eri Tosaka.

Stadnik, 28, won bronze at Beijing 2008, silver at London four years later, and was set for gold here, holding a 2-1 lead with seconds left.

But three-time world champion Tosaka, 22, took her down by the legs to win the title in her first Olympics.

Earlier, Azerbaijan’s another gold medal hope in wrestling, Rasul Chunayev saddened fans with the defeat in the semi-final. However, the athlete was strong enough to bring the country bronze as he defeated South Korean Ryu Han-su with 8-0.

Twenty-four-year-old Chunayev said that he seriously prepared for the Olympic Games, but winning gold was, apparently, not his fate. “I came to Rio for gold medal, however, could not get it. On the one hand I am happy that I could bring to Azerbaijan bronze medal. I'll try to raise our flag at height in future competitions.”

Rasul said that it was hard for him to perform in this category weight. “I have not acted in a weight category of 66 kg for a long. But to get to the Olympics, I had to move in this weight class. Weight losing played a major role. Between the fights there was not much time to recover. In addition, the draw was also not the best, like the Olympic champion from Russia, the world champion from Korea. In spite of this, to win the Olympics it is necessary to win all the strongest. But something got wrong in the semifinals,” he explained.

Azerbaijan’s other medals were taken by judokas Rustam Orudjev (73kg) and Elmar Gasimov (100kg) - both silver. Bronze medals were claimed by Greco-Roman wrestler Sabah Shariati (130 kg) and rower Inna Osypenko-Radomska, who took the Olympic bronze in women’s 200 meters kayak single. Inna brought the country its first Olympic medal in canoeing sprint.

Azerbaijan still has chance to win this year’s gold, as more athletes will join the competitions in Rio in the coming days. Meanwhile, boxers Kamran Shahsuvarli (75 kg) and Lorenzo Zollazor Sotomayor (64kg) already secured at least a bronze medal.

Fifty-six athletes are representing Azerbaijan in 18sports in both Summer Olympic Games and Summer Paralympic Games. Compared to previous years, this year the country is represented in four new sports, including triathlon, archery, cycling and canoe slalom.

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