National judokas grab three medals in Finland
By Rasana Gasimova
Azerbaijani judokas Rovshan Aliyev, Ahmad Yusifov and Ibrahim Aliyev won medals on the first competition day of the Junior European Judo Championships, which is ongoing in the Finnish city of Vantaa.
Rovshan Aliyev (60 kg) won the silver medal of the Championships. On his way to the finals, the Azerbaijani judoka defeated Biagio D Angelo (Italy), Daniel Leutgeb (Austria) and Abu-Muslim Parchiev (Russia). In the final match, he was defeated by Turkish representative Salih Yildiz.
Two other Azerbaijani judokas won bronze medals. Ahmad Yusifov (60 kg) defeated Andre Diogo (Portugal) at the start, and afterwards he lost to Abu-Muslim Parchiev (Russia). In the consolation fight Yusifov won Daniel Leutgeb (Austria) and then Alessandro Aramu (Italy) and took his bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Aliyev (66 kg) won Amit Bobovich (Israel), Bence Pongracz (Hungary), Robert Klacar (Croatia) before the semifinals. In the semifinals, he lost to Georgian Giorgi Tutashvili, and in the battle for the third place Aliyev defeated his compatriot Davud Abbasli.
Presently, the national judo team is on the fifth line in the medal standings of the Championships, having one silver and two bronze medals. The three leaders are Georgia (2, 0, 0), France (1, 1, 1) and Russia (1, 0, 2).
Judo is one of the most developed sports in Azerbaijan. The National Judo Federation was established in the country in 1972.
The adult judo team of Azerbaijan made considerable progress in 2016. The team won 51 awards in competitions of various levels. The results showed that Azerbaijani judokas won 351 times out of 710 fights during the year.
The Azerbaijani judo fighter, silver medalist of Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Rustam Orujov is the strongest judoka in the world in his weight category of 73kg, as well as among all weight categories.
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