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Laman Ismayilova

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Azerbaijani judoka Hidayat Heydarov has been crowned a two-time European champion.

The judo fighter won gold medal at the European Championships held in Montpellier, France, Azernews reports.

He secured the title thanks to a victory over Spanish Salvador Cases Roca in the 73kg final.

Another national judoka Zelym Kotsoiev captured a gold medal at the European Championships Seniors Montpellier. He beat a Georgian rival in the 100 kg final.

The championships brought together 389 fighters from 46 countries.

The European Championships Individuals 2023 will be held as part of the IJF World Tour and during the 2024 Summer Olympics qualification period.

The Azerbaijani team consisted of 11 judo fighters, including nine male and two female judokas.

Note that Hidayat Heydarov is a gold medalist at the 2017 European Judo Championships. At the 2019 European Games, he took a bronze medal, defeating Ferdinand Karapetyan.

Heydarov claimed a bronze medal at he 2019 pre-Olympic World Championships.

The judoka also won the gold medal in his event at the 2022 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv held in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Zelym Kotsoiev is a three-time bronze medalist at the European Judo Championships. He captured a gold medal at the 2017 Summer Universiade held in Taipei, Taiwan.

In 2021, he won the silver medal in his event at the Judo World Masters held in Doha, Qatar. A few months later, he won the gold medal in his event at the 2021 Judo Grand Slam Antalya held in Antalya, Turkiye.

Zelym Kotsoiev also won one of the bronze medals at 2022 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv held in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @lmntypewriterrr

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