MEDALS FROM EUROPE

The first major judo competition in 2022 took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. The 71st European Judo Championship held in the Bulgarian capital was attended by forty countries. The Azerbaijani national team with 11 judokas returned home with three medals in total.

Two Azerbaijani judokas became the third strongest athletes of the championship. Olympic silver medallist Rustam Orujov (73kg) competed for third place after losing in the quarter-finals and won a bronze medal after a series of consolation bouts. Another bronze medal came from Mammadali Mehdiyev (90kg). After losing in the quarterfinals to his Greek opponent, Mehdiyev defeated athletes from the Netherlands and Hungary and also became the third. 

Only Hidayat Heydarov (73kg) was awarded the top gold medal. Defeating the Pole athlete Adam Stodolski, Slovenian judoka Martin Hocak and Romanian Alexander Raic, Heydarov made it to the semi-finals, where he defeated Mark Khristov of Bulgaria. In the bout for the title of the champion, Heydarov defeated Italian Giovanni Esposito and became the double European champion. Thus, Hidayat Heydarov proved that he was the strongest in his weight category.

Objective and non-objective reasons

The national team did not include such experienced athletes as Elmar Gasimov and Ushangi Kokauri. Yet most of the countries participated in the continental championship with their weakest teams. Some decided to test young judokas. Coaches should take into account that Gasimov and Kokauri could not get medals because of such competition. Gasimov, who has not trained for a long time, was not in his best shape. On the other hand, it is difficult to understand why Ushangi Kokauri failed. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan Judo Federation appreciated the accomplishments (fifth place) of the national team.

Richard Trautmann, head coach of the national team, told the official website of the European Judo Union about his work in Azerbaijan: "I had to leave the German national team due to a controversy. In Azerbaijan, judo is one of the three sports that the country expects Olympic medals from. Despite the pressure, it is a real challenge for me".

Three medals won at the European Championship are not enough to assess the performance of the new head coach appointed in February. We need to wait at least a year. The real accomplishment of the German head coach will be known at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

Secretary General of the Azerbaijan Judo Federation, Rashad Rasullu, has appreciated the performance of the Azerbaijani judokas at the Sofia championship. According to him, six of nine athletes from the national team competed for medals. "One of the judokas won a gold medal, two bronze medals and three became the 5th best. Although the European Championship was the first experience for our judokas in the 60 and 66 kg weight categories, they have demonstrated a high level performance. Karamat Huseynov (60kg), Orkhan Safarov (66kg) and Zelim Kotsoev (100kg) missed the competition because of injuries. With all this in mind, the national team returned from the championship with a good result. The main thing is that we could also see the work of the coaching staff. I am sure that the team will achieve better results in the future," Rasullu said.

Ethnic Azerbaijani for home country

There is a new legionnaire in the national team. The International Judo Federation (IJF) has officially approved Said Mollai (81kg), who represented Iran and Mongolia in different years. Mollai has performed under the Azerbaijani flag since May 2, 2022.

According to the new IJF rules, points earned by a judoka will not be nullified if he or she changes the country they represent. Mollai is currently ranked seventh in the world rankings in his weight class. 

Rashad Rasullu also commented on Mollai's inclusion in the team: "The team had a problem in this [81kg] weight category, although we have many promising athletes in the same category. But none of them has become a medallist after the success of our Olympic champion Elnur Mammadli. Said Mollai is one of the world's leading judokas in the 81kg category. With his involvement in the national team, we will try to solve the problem as soon as possible. We believe that having such a disciplined and experienced athlete in the team will not only increase competition in this weight category, but will also have a positive impact on the development of young and talented judokas."

Said Mollai is a native of Iran of the Azerbaijani descent. He said that competing for Azerbaijan was one of his greatest desires: "After finishing my contract with the Judo Association of Mongolia, I approached the AJF and expressed my desire to compete for Azerbaijan. I am very happy that from now on I will compete under the flag of my native Azerbaijan. We have many events ahead of us, including the world and European championships and the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. There is not much time, but I will do my best to show good results and raise our flag high.”

Said Mollai has a gold medal from the 2018 World Championship in Baku. The experienced athlete is a silver medallist of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games and Asian Games. He is a bronze medallist of the world championship and has three bronze medals of European championships. He was also awarded a bronze medal at the Asian Championship.