Irina Zaretska has suggested that the key to seeing off Alisa Theresa Buchinger to claim women's kumite -68kg gold was all down to self-belief.
The home favourite pulled off an upset to beat her Austrian opponent 8-1 in the final, taking Azerbaijan's overall tally up to nine medals in these inaugural European Games.
Zaretska had to remain focused throughout, knowing that she had lost 3-0 to Buchinger earlier in the competition, but in the end the 19-year-old was a worthy winner.
"I can't even speak right now. I just want to thank the Azerbaijani federation that selected me for these Games, my coaches and everyone who supported me, everybody who is here," she told reporters.
"I lost in the preliminary round to her and so I decided that I have to go all out, otherwise the result will be the same. So I gave everything I had and I won 8-1. I believed in myself. I knew I had the technique and I can do it."
Montenegro's Marina Rakovic claimed bronze by securing a convincing win over Elena Quirici.
Daniel Lewis
