Zemfira Magomedalieva and Saadat Abdulaeva repare for European Boxing Championship
"The European Championship is one of the critical stages of qualifying for the Olympic Games in Brazil. For Saadat and Zemfira, it's very important to get as far as the finals of the competition at least to count on an Olympic ticket,"- the coach says.
Manapov says that both athletes have already finished the first phase of the training before the start of the European Championship and now they are getting ready for the second one scheduled for 15-30 April in Moscow.
"One of the preparation stages is over, now we plan to have the second one. Zemfira is in Makhachkala, she is training at the Buzaya Ibragimov sports school. Saadat is in Moscow, she is being trained by her personal coach Alexei Frolov. Both the athletes know each other well. Before the first training camp in Moscow, December 2014, Zemfira and Saadat were improving their technique together in Makhachkala,"- Manapov said.
He added that Saadat Abdulaeva, performing in the 69 kg weight, won the silver medal at an international tournament in Germany in late March.
According to Manapov, both athletes were the first Daghestan girls who managed to become Russian champions in recent history.
"Women's boxing, as we know, was included in the Olympic program only in 2012. We are really happy that that year, Saadat Abdulaeva was the first Daghestan native to become the Russian champion. However, she represented Moscow at the competition. But Zemfira, who a year later repeated Abdulaeva’s result, represented Daghestan at the national championship," - he explained.
The boxers’ successes haven’t passed unnoticed. In January 2014, Daghestani Head Ramadan Abdulatipov officially welcomed athletes of the Russian Women's Boxing team in his office.
