AFTER THE MAT

The performance of the Azerbaijani judo team at the Grand Slam tournament held in Baku to mark the 90th anniversary of the birth of national leader Heydar Aliyev gives hope for success at the coming world championships in Brazil.

Azerbaijan came first in the tournament, winning seven medals, including three gold, one silver and three bronze. They beat Mongolia and Brazil into second and third places respectively.

In all, the Azerbaijani team was made up of 30 members, mainly young and promising judoists and the main aim of the team coaches was to have a look at the younger generation. Ilqar Muskiyev, Vuqar Sirinli and Oruc Valizada, who appeared in the up to 60kg category, had a disastrous tournament, going out in the early stages. Tarlan Karimov and Turan Saidov also did badly in the up to 66kg category. However, Nicat Sixalizada starred at this weight. By triumphing over the German, Antony Zingu, the Russian Shamil Yakubov and the Georgian Shalva Kardava, Sixalizada reached the final. However, he eventually lost to the Mongolian, Tumurkhuleg Dava-dordzh and so ended up with a silver.

Azerbaijan also did well in the up to 73kg category. After beating the representatives from Ka-zakhstan and Ge-orgia, Rustam Oru-cev overcame his fellow-countryman Huseyn Rahimli in the semi-final, and in the final triumphed over Viktor Skvortsov, who was appearing for the UAE, to take the gold. Rahimli, for his part, took third place in the repechage.

Orucev's success was carried on by Sahin Qahramanov in the up to 90kg category. After proving the stronger in his bouts with the Brazilian Nasif Elias, the Azerbai-jani Ramin Qurbanov and the Russian Kamil Magomedov, in the final Sahin Qurbanov overcame the Ukrainian Valentin Grekov. This victory showed that Sahin was worthy of his place in Azerbaijan's main judo team.

Azerbaijan's third gold medal was won by Elxan Mammadov in the up to 100kg category. Having beaten all his rivals convincingly, in the final he was also able to overcome the Mongolian and prove he was the strongest at this weight. In this category another Azerbaijani - Elmar Hasimov - won a bronze. However this was not quite good enough and better things were expected of him. Hasimov has recently appeared in several tournaments and failed to show his best form, winning only two bouts, and in the repechage for third place Elmar's opponent could not take to the mat because of injury.

Unfortunately, our judoists in the over-100kg category were disappointing. Emil Tahirov and Isa Huseynov, who appeared in the Grand Slam tournament, were beaten by more experienced opponents and failed to win a medal. But the main disappointment came in the Azerbaijani women's tournament. Aida Qurbanli, Cinara Quliyeva and Safaq Mammadova (all in the up to 48kg category), Turana Saidli, Vafa Zeynalova, Nazakat Xalilova and Gulsan Nazarova (52kg), Xanim Huseynova and Nuria Axundova (63kg) all came away without medals. Among these we should single out only Turan Saidli who was one step away from a bronze in the Grand Slam.

Kifayat Hasimova (57kg) once again made an impression in the tournament. After losing her first bout, she managed to get herself together and won a bronze in the repechages. 

Overall, the Grand Slam was a success for Azerbaijan but there were also weak aspects in the team's performance. For example, in the women's team only Kifayat Hasimova has won medals at international tournaments, whereas the rest are not justifying the hopes placed in them. Kifayat has no competition in the team, and so it is hard to say who will be successful among the women's team when she retires.

In the men's team, Emil Tahirov and Isa Huseynov do not yet have the experience of performing in major tournaments. The experienced Elmar Hasimov was inconsistent, whereas Elxan Mammadov's gold consolidated his place in the team in the absence of the injured Olympic champion Elnur Mammadli.

The successful result at the tournament fails to mention the work of the coach, Pieter Seisenbacher. Although the tournament in Baku was a representative one, the leading countries brought their second teams, as usually happens in the first year of competition after the Olympics. Seisenbacher's task is to prepare the team for the world championships in Brazil in August this year. And this tournament, which features all the world's top judoists, is a very important one because Azerbaijan has yet to win a gold medal in the world championships. It will only be after this tournament that we will be able to assess the work of a foreign coach at the head of the Azerbaijani national team.