National wrestlers grab 4 golds at EYOF
By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade
Baku 2019 Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is underway in Baku from July 21 to 27. The grand event kicked off with wrestlers and tennis players’ competition.
The national wrestling team outstandingly started the EYOF by winning 4 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals. Currently, the Azerbaijani team leads the medals table followed by Russia, Italy, Romania and Turkey.
Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler Murad Hagverdiyev (45 kg) won gold medal by defeating Georgian athlete Nikolozi Santeladze in the final, while Eldar Asakayev from Russia won the bronze medal.
Azerbaijani Greco-Roman wrestler Farid Sadikhli also won gold medal in 45 kg category while Umut Coban from Turkey won silver and Maksim Gurov (Russia) and Kaspars Bondorenko (Latvia) won bronze medals. Another national Greco-Roman wrestler Nihad Mammadli gained bronze medal after the victory over Alesh Bekir in 55 kg category.
The third gold was brought by Greco-Roman wrestler Hasrat Jafarov in 60 kg category who defeated Russian contender Magomed Gigiev.
Gurban Gurbanov also celebrated the first podium place after he beat his Georgian opponent Khvicha Abuladze.
Italian freestyle wrestler Vincenzo Piroddu won gold medal in 55 kg category by defeating Azerbaijani wrestler Abulfaz Nasirov in the final.
It is noteworthy that Baku 2019 Summer European Youth Olympic Festival is held under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee, and is the pride of the European Olympic Committees with 25 years of tradition. EYOF is the first top European multi-sport event aimed at young athletes aged 14 to 18. There is a winter and a summer edition, which take place in two-year cycles, in odd-numbered years. The EYOF belongs to the European Olympic Committees (EOC).
Approximately 3,600 young people and their officials take part in the summer festivals, while there are around 1,600 participants at the winter editions.
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Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1
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