Azerbaijan wins gold in Karate1 Premier League-Austria
By Akbar Mammadov
Azerbaijani athletes have won one gold and one bronze during the Karate1 Premier League Tournament held in Austria on March 1.
Rafiz Hasanov (-67kg) became the winner of the competition while Irina Zaretska (-68kg) won the bronze medal.
At matches for the bronze medal, other national athletes Aykhan Mamayev (-84kg) lost the match against the Kazakh athlete Daniyar Yuldashev, and Asiman Gurbanli (+84kg) failed to win the match against Mahmud Tarek (Egypt).
At the third stage of the most famous league tournament of World Karate Federation, 625 athletes from 88 different countries participated in the competition.
The tournament has also contributed to athletes to gain the world and Olympic rating points.
International referee Jahangir Babayev was also amongst the referees ruling final matches. The president of Azerbaijan National Karate Federation Yashar Bashirov took part in the award ceremony.
Karate is among the most popular sports in Azerbaijan. Over the past years, Azerbaijani karate athletes been the winners of a number of prestigious international tournaments, European and World Championships.
Azerbaijan boasts with the number of its world-known karatekas. Among them are five-time World Champion, and eleven-time European Champion Rafael Agayev, World Champions Israfil Shirinov, Aykhan Mamayev, Europe Champions Parviz Abdulkarimov, Jeyhun Aghasiyev, Rustam Madatov, Fayyaz Ildirimzade, Niyazi Aliyev and Asiman Gurbanli, bronze medalists of European Championship Amal Atayev, Yusif Jafarov, Shahin Atamov, Rashad Huseynov and Ilaha Gasımova who are members of the national team.
--
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
