Azernews.Az

Laman Ismayilova

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Azerbaijan's Farid Rzazade has won the gold medal in the men's -50kg category at the Guayaquil World Championships Cadets Individuals 2026 in Ecuador.

Rzazade claimed the world title on the opening day of the competition on August 20, putting together four victories on his way to the final.

He defeated Turkiye's Suleyman Dogru in the round of 16, Kazakhstan's Bekarys Kudaibergen in the quarter-final and Brazil's Arthur Bonato in the semi-final. Bonato entered the tournament as the top seed and was the 2025 world silver medallist.

In the final, Rzazade faced Kazakhstan's Adilzhan Nurbeken. The Azerbaijani judoka secured the winning score in golden score to take the world title.

The result is particularly notable as Rzazade had previously lost to Nurbeken twice. He also entered the championships after winning silver at the 2026 Cadet European Championships in Gran Canaria and gold at the Cadet European Cup in Tbilisi earlier this year.

The Guayaquil World Championships Cadets Individuals 2026 are being held in Guayaquil from August 20 to 23. The individual events run through August 22, followed by the mixed team competition on August 23.

A total of 479 judokas from 62 countries are competing in the tournament.

Azerbaijan is represented at the championships by 14 young judokas competing across nine weight categories. Rzazade's victory gives the Azerbaijani team its first gold medal of the competition.

The world title marks the biggest achievement of Rzazade's season so far and adds another major success to Azerbaijan's strong record in international judo.