Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The World Wrestling Championship kicked off in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on September 8.

The games are being held in three categories, namely Free style wrestling, Greco-Roman and Women's wrestling.

Azerbaijan's men's team composes from Haji Aliyev (61kg), Ahmadnabi Gvarzatilov (57kg), Ruslan Dibirhajiyev (70kg), Gamzat Osmanov (86kg),Aslan Dzebishev (125kg) and Khetag Gazyumov (97kg).

Azerbaijan's women's team includes Maria Stadnik (48kg), Yulia Ratkevich (60kg) and Nadya Semencova (69kg).

On free style category, Azerbaijani wrestler Haji Aliyev brought the long-awaited gold medal to the team. After his amazing victory against Iranian wrestler Masood Esmaeilpoorjouybari 12:7, Haji took he first gold medal at the championship at 61kg weight category.

The three time European champion Khetag Gazyumov defeated all his rivals from Moldova, Georgia, Mongolia and Ukraine. In the final match with his main rival Russian Abdulsalom Hadisov, Gazumov gave way to the Russian wrestler and became the silver medalist.

Commenting on his victor Khetag said "Only about 30 seconds before the final whistle, I felt that the victory is mine."

Azerbaijani women athletes, Maria Stadnik and Yulia Ratkevich, won medals at the Championship.

The World champion 2009 and European Champion 2011 Yulia Ratkevich won the second place. Successfully defeating all her rivals in the qualification, she faced with Mongolian Cherenchimend Suxe in the final. Yulia missed advantage after the first time 3:12 and brought the silver medal to the team.

"It was very difficult for me to participate in the championship, as I was not in the quite best shape. Frankly, my injuries tortured. Even now, my nose is broken. I had thought I was badly performed, but I reached the final," Yulia said.

The World champion and the four time European champion Maria Stadnik appeared with full strength at the championship. Just one offensive defeat, alienated her from the final. However, in the fight for bronze medal, Maria did her best defeating Emilia Vuc from Canada 11:0 in 41 seconds and became the bronze medalist.

During the third day of the championship, Azerbaijani sportsmen won one gold medal (Haji Aliyev at 61kg), two silver medals (Khetag Gazyumov at 97kg and Yulia Ratkevich at 60kg) and one bronze medal (Maria Stadnik at 48kg).

The World Wrestling Championship will last till September 14.