THE UNBROKEN GOLD

Baku was a host to yet another prestigious tournament, the World Judo Championship held at the National Gymnastics Arena.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, President of the World Judo Federation Marius Vizer attended the opening ceremony, while the presidents of Russia and Mongolia, Vladimir Putin and Khaltmaagiin Battulga, could watch the competition on different days.

The championship gathered 800 athletes from 125 countries. Azerbaijan was represented by 9 men and 6 women athletes in different weight categories, who won 2 medals.

Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg) won the bronze medal, while Ushangi Kokauri (over 100 kg) won the silver medal. As a result, the Azerbaijani team took the 11^th place in the medal standings.

Hidayat Heydarov achieved the highest result in his career. Prior to this, at the World Championships in Budapest, he became the fifth. At home, he could even reach the final stage of the championship but he lost this chance to a Japanese judoka in the semifinals.

Kokauri's performance was a real, as no one expected that he could get a medal. Meanwhile, he won in five bouts losing only to a Georgian athlete in the final. Thanks to hard training and good physical condition, Kokauri won the silver medal of the tournament, although in the finals, he made a mistake just 3 seconds before the end of the bout.

Hidayat Heydarov: "This is my first medal at the World Championship. In the semifinals, my opponent was a Japanese athlete Soichi Hashimoto, the world champion. He is very strong indeed. When I saw President Ilham Aliyev watching the game, I was confident that I would win a medal. After losing the semi-final, I promised myself not to miss the bronze medal. My opponent in the semi-finals was well trained and I was very tired in that bout. The bronze medal of the World Championship is my biggest career success. It’s better to win the bronze medal than to lose in the final."

Silver medalist Ushangi Kokauri was pleased with his performance: "I am glad that I won the medal. I have not had such success for a long time. I did not expect to reach the final stage though. It is a pity that not everything worked as I expected, my opponent in the final battle was quite strong, that's why he could get out of my grip. We know each other well, since we competed three times before. During the year, I had to try hard to win a medal. When I won the semifinals, I wanted to go straight to the final bout. I had incredible feelings; I could not wait for the final bout."

The head coach of the national judo team, world champion Elkhan Mammadov is satisfied with the results: "We expected more from our team. But I think that psychological stress did not allow our athletes to show all their strength. Support is much stronger at home, but it also puts additional pressure on the athletes. Home arena always affects us negatively. But, on the other hand, Ushangi Kokauri had never fought like that before, he completed his training excellently and could show how professional a judoka he was. All athletes can compete better but, unfortunately, they could not prepare well psychologically. In general, I am satisfied with the results."

E. Mammadov added that he had not yet completed his career as an athlete and was thinking about participating in subsequent competitions.

19-year-old athlete, Karamat Huseynov, can be praised for his performance. He took the fifth place but was noticeable thanks to his professional wrestling skills. In the 1/8 final, he defeated a strong Russian judoka (ippon) surprising everyone and securing his place in the national team. At the same time, the award-winners of the World Championships, the Olympics and the European Championships, Rustam Orujev, Elmar Gasimov, and Orkhan Safarov, left the championship without medals. Coaches should analyse the reasons for their poor performance, as it is necessary to continue reforms in the national team and to achieve competition in most weight categories.

Summing up, the success of the Japanese team is noteworthy. Having won 7 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals, Japanese judokas were the first in the medal standings. The second place was taken by Korean judokas with two gold and one bronze medals. The third place went to the French team with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Since the next World Championship will be held in Japan, the flag of the competition was handed over to the Japanese delegation.