Three Azerbaijani wrestlers top UWW ranking
By Laman Ismayilova
Azerbaijani athletes continued their brilliant successes in the sporting world.
Three Azerbaijani wrestlers have topped the updated rankings of the United World Wrestling announced ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics, Azertac reported.
National wrestlers Rasul Chunayev, Haji Aliyev and Maria Stadnik are first in their categories.
Becoming a member of the national team in 2006, Chunayev brought many changes to the sports history of the country. In 2008, the wrestler became European Champion. Chunayev was also the winner of the Summer Universiade in Kazan in 2013.
He won gold medal at the 1st European Games held in Baku and became the first athlete to win gold while on active duty for the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.
Another Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler Haji Aliyev competed at the 61kg division in the 2014 European Wrestling Championships and won the gold medal after beating Bekkhan Goygereyev of Russia.
He won the gold medal in the freestyle 61 kg class in the 2014 World Wrestling Championships.
National female wrestler Stadnik is a world and European champion in freestyle wrestling. Moreover, Azerbaijani female wrestler competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics, winning a bronze and a silver, respectively.
Azerbaijani wrestlers will participate in one of the most popular, thrilling and memorable events of this year -- 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
With 14 athletes, including six freestyle, five Greco-roman and three female wrestlers, the national wrestling team is sure to reach good results.
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