Azerbaijani Olympic Champion contracts COVID-19

Azerbaijani Olympic champion, world and European champion in freestyle wrestling, Sharif Sharifov, has been infected with the coronavirus.

The 32-year-old wrestler, who is currently in Dagestan’s Makhachkala, said that his family members also suffered from the infection.

“I tested positive for the virus. My whole family, including my wife, my mother, my father and sister got sick as well. It’s not just flu, but a dangerous virus. Even my mother was hospitalized with the diagnosis of double pneumonia. She was discharged on May 19. Unlike my mother, I had a mild form of the disease. I just had a fever and pain,” he told the Report.

The wrestler added that he has recovered from the virus for a week and now feels well.

Sharifov won the 2012 Olympic and 2011 World titles at the weight class of 84 kg. He won a silver medal at the World Championships (97 kg) in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, in 2019, and qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.