Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijani judoka Elkhan Mammadov became the world champion for the first time in the history of Azerbaijani sports during the 28th World Judo Championships held in Rio de Janeiro from August 26 to September 1.

In the first fight Mammadov defeated Israeli athlete Or Sasson. Then he was victorious in a bout with David Alarza from Spain and Takashi Ono from Japan, making his way to the semifinals. A step away from the finals, Mammadov beat Soyib Kurbanov from Uzbekistan by points.

In the final, his opponent was Dutch athelete Henk Grol. Mammadov managed to beat the opponent and won the first gold medal in the history of world judo championships.

Mammadov is a member of the national team of Azerbaijan. He was also the bronze medalist at the 2010 world championships and the 2008 European championships. Mammadov represented Azerbaijan at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Olympics in London.

Another judoka from Azerbaijan, Elmar Gasimov, proceeded to the 1/8 finals but further dropped out of the competition. In the first fight he defeated Ukraine's Artem Bloshenko, but then lost to Dimitri Peters of Germany.

On the first day of the World Cup Azerbaijani judoka Orkhan Safarov won a bronze medal.