Impressive development of Kazakhstan's sport speaks for deliberate policy of the country: Secretary General of the Asian Weightlifting Federation
The 25th Asian championship among women and 44th among men for the very first time was held in the capital of Kazakhstan.
Ali Moradi expressed his view on the development of this kind of sport in Kazakhstan, on perspectives and potential of the Kazakh weightlifters in the interview to Kazinform correspondent.
What is your assessment of this Asian Weightlifting Championship?
-First of all, it is necessary to point out an undeniable fact that sport in Asia is in the forefront in comparison with the whole world.
I'm pleased to say that the 25th Asian championship among women and 44th among men Asian Weightlifting Championship is being held at the highest level. In general, every event that takes place in Kazakhstan, your country hosts at the top-level.
I would also like to make a pointed reference to mass media interest in these remarkable events. I'm really glad to see live broadcasts of the championship on the local TV channels, by the way the work of correspondents is worthy of attention.
All this demonstrates vast opportunities and potential of Kazakhstan in hosting such events. Today everybody has no doubt the Asian Weightlifting Championship will be held without a hitch.
What do you think of the Kazakh sportsmen?
Many years ago I noticed a young sportsman Ilya Ilyin at the international championship. A lot of people thought he had no chances to win. But I knew he is just young, but promising athlete. Currently, Ilyin has no equal in weightlifting.
In order to understand this, you need to know that weightlifting history has only three persons who won three Olympic gold medals in weightlifting: Halil Mutlu, Naim Suleymanoglu and Pirros Dimas. I assure you the name of the Kazakh weightlifter Ilya Ilyin will be in this list.
I was a head of the Federation of Weightlifting in Iran for more than 12 years, and we have won only two Olympic medals over that time. One weightlifter Hossein Rezazade (prominent Iranian athlete, world record holder, world champion, two-time Olympic champion) won both medals. I really wanted him to win the third Olympic gold, but, unfortunately, it did not happen.
Ilya Ilyin is very strong and purposeful, self-confident athlete, his capabilities and high capacity allow to speak about the future victories. I have no doubt he will conquer the Olympic podium over and over. Ilya is a bright star of Kazakhstan, Asia, and the world of sports. And his name will stick in the history of world weightlifting.
Who else can you mention except Ilyin?
I would like to mention high performance of the women's national team of Kazakhstan in weightlifting at the Olympics last year. It was the sensation for the whole world.
Today, Kazakhstan has brought together the best weightlifters of the world. Weightlifters of your country have taken a huge leap in the past few years. This shows how much attention and importance is attached to sport and healthy lifestyle development in your country.
The Kazakh athletes Maya Maneza, Zulfiya Chinshanlo and Svetlana Podobedova have proved to the whole world that even in this kind of sport [weightlifting], women can reach a lot.
The whole world has witnessed impressive development of sport in Kazakhstan. This means that Kazakhstan has a deliberate policy, and that sport is highly supported by the state and the President of the country, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Being a representative of Asia, and the world of international sport, I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - for his contribution to the development of not only Kazakhstan, but also the world of sports, including weightlifting.
