The third gold medal for Ukraine at the Olympic Games in France was won by boxer Oleksandr Khizhnyak from Poltava, who defeated Nurbek Oralbay from Kazakhstan in the 80 kg final.
Head coach of the Ukrainian men's national team Dmytro Sosnovsky told what helped his charges to conquer the top step of the podium.
- In preparation for the decisive confrontation we focused on the fact that his rival Nurbek Oralbay had no opportunity to use his formidable "weapon" - long-range strikes. Therefore, it was important to impose a close fight on the Kazakh.
- Still, it seems that Alexander Khizhnyak hardly surprised his opponent, when from the first seconds of the fight he started to put pressure on him.
- Such is Khizhnyak's fighting style, but for it to be effective, you have to be as physically ready as possible. There were certain concerns whether Alexander would be able to maintain such a high pace throughout the tournament, because he missed a lot of time during the preparatory period due to injury. He was able to do so, moreover, with each fight he only improved.
- Still, in the second round Khizhnyak lacked concentration and missed several "shots" of his opponent from the middle distance.
- Nurbek is a world champion and, I'm sure, during the preparation he also scrupulously studied the Ukrainian's fighting style and several of his series were successful. But they did not shake Khizhnyak.
- At the end of the two rounds there was a balance in the judges' votes. Everything was to be decided by the third round. What were Alexander and his father, who was his son's second?
- They asked him to act even more intensively and to be more cunning. And Sasha, thanks to better functional preparation, more diverse actions, proved that he deserved the gold medal. In particular, at the end of the fight Oralbay was pestered by uppercuts of the Ukrainian.
- What did Khizhnyak said to you when he came out of the ring?
- "Dmitrievich, we did it!". Khizhnyak made a wonderful gift to Ukrainian sports fans with his rise. His way to the top was thorny, but he managed to overcome all the difficulties.
- By the way, last year Khizhnyak had already defeated Oralbay at the international tournament in Debrecen. Were these fights similar?
- They were somewhere on the same scenario and that's why it's nice that Khizhnyak again defeated an opponent who is progressing.
- You mentioned above that after Khizhnyak won the Olympic license last year he had problems in preparation for the Games.
- Yes, at one of the training camps he seriously injured his hand and it took him several months to recover, so there was no possibility to declare Khizhnyak for any international tournament. I have always noted that in boxing a lot depends on team effort. Alexander had to gain his fighting form in sparring. Eugene Khitrov, Pavel Ilyusha, Daniel Zhasan, Nikolay Zasinok, Sergey Gorskov, Alexander Uzun, Alexander Dengub helped him a lot. In his victory there is also their merit.
Necessary support was also provided by a big fan of boxing, co-owner of the chain of stores "Epicenter", Alexander Gerega. By the way, he was present at the final fight and was very worried.
And, of course, the biggest thanks to the AFU, without their heroic resistance to the Russian aggressor, our performance in Paris would not have been possible.
- Then lastly, tell me, will Khizhnyak go professional or will he prepare for his third Olympics?
- It's up to Hizhnyak himself. If he stays, the whole Ukrainian boxing will benefit. Because Oleksandr is a real leader, and his dedication to boxing can only serve as an example.
