Azerbaijan shines at world hapkido champ
BATTLE GREEK/MICHIGAN/USA – The members of the Azerbaijan Hapkido Team successfully represented the country at the 8th Triennial World Hapkido Championships held from August 5-8 in the Kollog Arena in Battle Greek, Michigan, USA, bringing home two gold and three silver medals.
Azerbaijan was represented by the 10th Dan Black Belt Grand Master Suleyman Mammadli, 4th Dan Black Belt Master, Hapkido master of Azerbaijan, European Champion Orkhan Mammadli, 3rd Dan Black Belt Master, European Champion Eldaniz Khalilov and 2nd Dan Black Belt Master Arif Mustafayev.
The strongest Black Belt Masters from more than 30 teams vied for medals in group and individual competitions such as self-defense, precision kicking techniques, high fall, long fall, empty-handed forms, weapons forms, breaking and free sparring. Azerbaijani athletes took part in self-defense, breaking and free sparring competitions.
Military serviceman of the State Border Service, Lieut. Orkhan Mammadli (65 kg weight bracket) and Eldaniz Khalilov (74 kg) became world champions, having beaten all their rivals in free sparring.
Having lost the tightly-contested final in the heavy weight bracket (88kg), Arif Mustafayev claimed the silver medal.
The president of the Azerbaijan Hapkido Federation and coach of the national team, Grand Master Suleyman Mammadli was also awarded with a gold medal for his outstanding activity at the international Hapkido events as well as demonstrated excellence in the competition.
Hapkido, a Korean martial art, is a form of self-defense that employs joint locks, techniques of other martial arts, as well as common basic attacks. There is also the use of traditional weapons, including a sword, rope, nunchaku, cane, short stick, etc., which vary in emphasis depending on the particular tradition examined.