Today in Bulgarian Plovdiv starts the European Boxing Championship. One of the leaders of the Russian team in this tournament will be Alexey Tishchenko, who at 22 years old has already managed to get the title of Olympic champion and try a gold medal of the world champion. The collection of the young Omsk lacks only the strongest title on the continent. On the eve of the campaign for the missing award, Tishchenko spoke to Izvestia correspondent Konstantin Ivigin.
Question This spring you changed the weight category Tired of keeping your weight within 57 kg?
Answer: Tired is not the right word. I was just exhausted. The last straw was the World Cup in China, which was held in November last year. There I was forced to train when everyone was resting, and during breaks I could only afford tea with sweets. And all for the sake of morning weighing to give the necessary numbers. Then, before the fight, I already ate away, entered the ring, fought - and again I was forced to push myself into tight frames. In this scenario, health and nerves can not be stocked. I talked with my coach Leonid Kiselev, talked with the national team coach Alexander Lebzyak. They took my decision to change the weight category with understanding.
Q: Does the new company hit harder?
A: Well, yes, the guys have more strength, you understand. There are very few feeble; on the contrary, where more often such strong healthy people come across. But to be honest, I'm not used to it. In training, I have long been working with those who are larger than me in size.
Q: You go to Bulgaria as one of your favorites. Universal expectations crush?
A: This is already a matter of habit. Of course, I try not to relax too much. At the same time, I understand that you just need to correctly prepare yourself for every fight. And more importantly - do not bother with your head during the tournament. To do this, I have a laptop, and to it a series of quest games. They are inherently endless - and this is very good. Still as an option, hiking is quite suitable.
Q: Are you worried before leaving for Plovdiv?
A: There must always be excitement. But such, say, moderate excitement: neither complacency, nor psychosis. I have long had a case when, well, I did not worry at all before the fight. And lost. The case of a splinter sits in memory and does not allow to relax.
Q: They say you do not remember the names of the main rivals.
A: You know, the last time I boxed in the Czech Republic. There was a fairly strong roster of participants. I defeated a boxer from Kazakhstan and only at home found out that he is a bronze medalist at the Athens Olympics. Do you understand what this is about? It’s not that I don’t follow my rivals, I just don’t remember names. For me they are representatives of their teams: "Ukrainian", "Italian", "Frenchman" ... However, wait! The names of some of those who will have to fight in Plovdiv, I know. The Ukrainian surname seems to be Klitschko. Agree, it’s hard not to remember (in fact - Klyuchko. - “Izvestia” ).
Q: You are periodically asked about a possible transition to professionals. Is such an option possible?
A: Before the Olympics in Beijing, it is excluded. While I watch professionals only on TV. And, I admit, I’m just amazed at their physical fitness. Recently watched the battle of the Mexicans Barrera and Morales. Crazy speeds! .. They twelve rounds plunged each other with virtually no respite. I can only guess how to withstand such a load.
The team went for medals from the "Blue Town"
Today in Plovdiv begins the European Boxing Championship, which will be a serious stage in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the Moscow region of Chekhov, where the Russian team conducted its training, a Izvestia correspondent visited.
At the sports base "Blue Town" is the usual midday July heat. On the spot near the local canteen, the head coach of the national team, Olympic champion Alexander Lebzyak, jokes with his mentors surrounding him: “Yes, it's a normal name that you all don’t like. come up with all this nonsense. " Lebzyak speaks convincingly, he wants to believe. And after two-time European champion Georgi Balakshin, passing by a springy boxing gait, shakes my hand to a light crunch, all sorts of suspicions disappear altogether.
The main event for the team on this day is traditional sparring, according to the results of which the final composition for the championship should be named. Of course, a meeting of competitors in a confrontation a few days before the start of the tournament is rarely decisive for the head coach. The first numbers are revealed throughout the season. Nevertheless, sparring is able to change something, this is their intrigue. Already in the first fight, Maxim Ignatiev a few times shook the Olympic champion Aleksey Tishchenko slightly. And when a little later, world champion Matvey Korobov missed several tangible blows from the opponent, the head coach even had to intervene: “Where are the hands?”.
With the appearance of Balakshin in the ring, my hand flinched nervously, and the female athletes standing nearby looking out for their suitors exchanged first impressions of what they saw:
“See how they are tanned.” They probably hate each other?
- Of course. They are rivals. Would you like Sokolova to fall a hundred meters?
- Yeah.
- You see.
A dramatic episode occurred in the duel of the captain of our team, Evgeni Makarenko and Arthur Beterbiev. Both boxers started sparring so actively that already in the first round Makarenko received a strong eyebrow section and could not continue the fight. Although the final verdict of the doctors was to be issued only in the evening, it became immediately clear from the killed expression on the face of an experienced boxer and his coach: the championship was over for them.
The most anticipated, and for many unexpected, this day was the entry into the ring of heavyweight Islam Timurziev. Considered one of the most gifted boxers in Russia, this guy nearly finished his career last winter after a routine medical examination revealed he had a congenital brain tumor. “When I found out about the diagnosis, I was just in shock,” says Islam. “I even wanted to write a statement in emotions that I took all responsibility for personal health. I wanted to be taken to the World Cup. But then it turned out that it’s just a cyst, which can be cured without surgery and continue to do boxing. Now, after several stages of treatment, everything seems to be fine, but our doctor is constantly monitoring me. "
The fact that everything is in order with Islam could be seen by observing his actions in sparring. A couple of times he had to literally jump up to catch an opponent who was leaving the blows, causing a menacing ringing crack and a contented smile for the head coach. “By a pleasant tradition, we are going to win medals in all 11 weight categories and take the first team place,” Lebzyak summed up the day. “Which medals are not so important. The main stake is on the Olympics, and we consider all tournaments as preparation for it "Therefore, the doors to the team at this meeting are open to all: lame, slanting, crooked. Whoever is transformed will remain."