SEVEN MEDALS IN BAKU

The traditional international Grand Slam tournament organized in Baku in memory of the All-National Leader Heydar Aliyev was marked by successful performance of Azerbaijani athletes. It was of great importance for the national team, as it was an excellent opportunity to check the level of absorption of new rules by athletes, as well as the self-assertion of young judokas.

This prestigious tournament, attended by 192 athletes from 42 countries, demonstrated the existing problems in women's judo. National athletes, unmatched in the championship of Azerbaijan, faced difficulties in the tournament. In women’s team, only Khanim Huseynova (63 kg) was able to win a bronze medal, with some difficulties though. Her fellow judokas in other weight categories could not please their fans.

Meanwhile, the men's team demonstrated very good results indeed. Rufat Ismayilov (81 kg) achieved the highest result. After defeating Sunnatulla Azimov (Uzbekistan), Dorin Gotonoag (Moldova) and Ivailo Ivanov (Bulgaria), the Azerbaijani judoka defeated the Japanese Kenia Kohara in 32 seconds in the semifinal. In the final, Rufat’s counterpart was the Iranian athlete Said Mollayi. Having a wasari point, the judoka Gabala Club became the gold medalist.

After a victory over Omari Nazashvili (Georgia), our Olympic medalist Rustam Orujov (73 kg) could not defeat Riki Nakaya (Japan) in the quarter-finals. It was very difficult to fight with the world and Olympic champion. Rustam could not demonstrate any remarkable trick during four minutes. As a result, he went to fight in consolation fights, where he has managed to get a bronze medal.

Several national judokas fought in the category of 90 kg. Tural Safguliyev advanced to the semifinals, where he lost a “golden point” to a judoka from Kazakhstan, Islam Bozbayev. In the fight for third place, he could not cope with the Georgian Ushangi Marjiani, eventually leaving the tournament without a medal.

Incidentally, Marjiani now is eligible to fight for the third place losing to another Azerbaijani judoka, Mammadali Mehdiyev in the quarterfinals, who defeated his own teammate Abdulhagh Rasullu in the semifinals. In the final, Mehdiyev lost to Kazakh Islam Bozbayev, who had defeated two Azerbaijani judokas previously.

The most interesting moment for the Azerbaijani fans was the fight in the category of 100 kg. Here, the main hopes for the medal were associated with the silver medalist of the Rio Olympics, Elmar Gasimov, who joined the fight after the ¼ finals. He defeated the Georgian athlete David Ozbetelashvili. After defeating his teammate Elkhan Mammadov in the semifinals, Gasimov was unable to advance in the final stage of the tournament. In the fight for a gold medal, his opponent was a Dutch athlete Michel Correl. Leaving an extremely weak impression in this important meeting, the Azerbaijani athlete was awarded the silver medal. In the battle for the third place, world champion Elkhan Mammadov and his teammate Zelim Kotsoev met. The bronze medalist was Elkhan Mamedov.

Having won seven medals in the Grand Slam tournament, the Azerbaijani athletes took the second place, having passed only the Dutch team. From the prize-winners, you can appreciate the performance of Rufat Ismayilov, who demonstrated in all meetings high skill and the will to win. If he continues successful performances, he may well become a new leader.

Mammadali Mehdiyev (90 kg) had problems with physical training. It is necessary to analyze the weak performance of Elmar Gasimov in the finals and to pay attention to tactical preparation of our athlete, who could not show any tricks against his counterpart from the Netherlands. Both Orkhan Safarov (60 kg) with his bronze medal and Rustam Orujov (73 kg) failed to get rid of the syndrome of native walls. Both of them traditionally face the problem of fighting for gold medals at the competitions that are held in Baku. Despite Elkhan Mammadov’s (100 kg) bronze medal, his trip to Tokyo in 2020 is a big question. In fact, the age of our world champion affects his performance. Once again, the heavyweight Georgian athlete Ushangi Kokouri demonstrated unsatisfactory performance remaining without award. Probably, it is more expedient to attract a stronger athlete to this category, since it is difficult to find a high-level judoka in the Azerbaijani championship.

After the Grand Slam Super Tournament, the International Judo Federation unveiled a new table of ratings of successful performances of Azerbaijani athletes.

So, Rufat Huseynov, who became the winner of the competition, climbed 97 steps at once, taking the 15th place. Mammadali Mehdiyev, who lost only in the finals, defeated 11 opponents and became 11th. Elmar Gasimov (100 kg), who lost his fight in the finals only, again rose to the first place.

Our bronze medalist Orkhan Safarov became the world’s strongest judoka in 60 kg. Rustam Orujov (73 kg) repeated his success finishing this tournament as the third strongest athlete. And another bronze medalist of the Grand Slam, world champion Elkhan Mammadov (100 kg), having risen on 7 steps, was ranked the 5th.

Our only prize-winner woman judoka Khanim Huseynova rose to 73 positions and now ranks the 35th in world classification.

As for other leading judokas, the fifths of the tournament Nijat Shikhalizadeh and Ushangi Kokauri (+100 kg) advanced by 3, Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg) - 10, Tural Safiguliyev (90 kg) – 16 points, respectively, 4th, 18th, 23rd and 25th places.

President of the International Judo Federation Marius Wiser expressed his gratitude to the Azerbaijan Judo Federation for the highest level of organization of the Grand Slam tournament. By the way, for the first time, Azerbaijan will host the World Judo Championship in Baku.