Head coach of the junior national weightlifting team of Armenia Gevorg Davtyan is happy with his athletes’ results at the European Championship in Kosovo.
The ten-member team won 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals.
Davtyan told Mediamax Sport that was his first competition as a head coach and he considers it very successful.
“Rafael Harutyunyan (69kg) would have taken the gold in U17 competition, but he got a leg injury. Thankfully, it wasn’t serious and Rafael managed to win the bronze. In any case, we still got gold in that category, thanks to Armen Grigoryan,” said the coach.
Davtyan’s team had the support of Armenian peacekeepers serving in Kosovo, who came to cheer on young athletes. Davtyan expressed his special gratitude to them.
“They were with us all day long and cheered very loudly, no one else had fans like that. They also saw us off at the airport. We thank them for everything,” said Davtyan.
Photo: Mediamax
He also touched on the decision by the International Weightlifting Federation to suspend 9 countries, including Armenia, from weightlifting for a year.
“If the decision arrives and our appeal doesn’t work, teams of any age group will be banned from international tournaments. We’ll have to miss the 2018 Youth Olympics. That’s bad, as our new generation of athletes is very good.”
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