National judo fighter wins bronze at World Judo Championships
By Naila Huseynli
Azerbaijani judo fighter, Hidayet Haydarov grabs bronze at the World Judo Championships in Baku on September 22.
Twenty-one-year-old athlete who competes in 73 kg weight category won Tsend-Ochir Tsogtbaatar, the representative of Mongolia. Heydarov defeated his opponent with waza-ari point.
It is Azerbaijan’s first medal at the World Judo Championships in Baku.
Hidayet won a gold medal at the 2017 European Judo Championships. He defeated his teammate Rustam Orujov at the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games final.
In 2017, he took bronze at the Grand Slam tournament in Paris. And in the same year he became European champion in judo in weight up to 73 kg, defeating Musa Mogushkov from Russia in the finals. Heydarov became the only judo winner of all four European titles, and the European Judo Union called him the best young judo fighter in Europe.
The 2018 World Judo Championships will last until September 27 at Baku’s National Gymnastics Arena.
The World Judo Championships is the highest level of international judo competition, along with the Olympic judo competition. The first edition of the world championships took place in Tokyo, Japan in 1956.
The championships are held once every year, except the years when the Olympics take place.
An Olympic sport, Judo is quite popular in Azerbaijan among both men and women.
Azerbaijan Judo Federation was established in 1972. Since 1993, Azerbaijani fighters were among the winners at Junior European Judo Championships.
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