A new athlete has joined the Azerbaijani judo family

The Azerbaijan Judo Federation (ACF) informs that the International Judo Federation (IJF) has officially approved Olympic silver medalist and world champion Said Mollay to perform under the Azerbaijani flag from May 2, 2022. According to the new sports rules adopted by the IJF. , when an athlete changes his country of performance, his rating points will not be reset, as before. According to this rule, Said Mollayi will maintain the rating points he currently has. It should be noted that at the moment he is on the 7th place in the world ranking in the weight class of -81 kg. Said Mollayi won the 2018 World Championship held in Baku. He won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. In addition, Saeed was a winner and prize-winner at the Asian Games and Championships, Grand Slam tournaments and other prestigious international competitions in different years. Although we have many promising athletes in this weight category, unfortunately, there was no prize winner in high-level competitions after our Olympic champion Elnur Mammadli. Saeed is considered one of the world's leading judokas in the -81 kg weight category, and with his joining our national team, we aim to eliminate this problem in a short time. At the same time, we believe that the presence of a disciplined and experienced athlete like Saeed in the national team will not only increase the competition in the -81 kg weight class, but will also have a positive effect on the development of our talented and young athletes," said ACF Secretary General Rashad Rasullu. According to Said Mollayi, performing under the flag of Azerbaijan was one of his biggest dreams: "Therefore, after the end of my contract with the Mongolian Judo Association, I applied to ACF on my own initiative and expressed my intention to perform on behalf of Azerbaijan. I am very happy that from now on I will participate in competitions under the flag of my native Azerbaijan. The world and European championships and the Paris Summer Olympic Games in 2024 await us. We have little time, I will do my best to show high results and raise our flag high." On behalf of the Azerbaijan Judo Federation, we wish good luck to Said and say "welcome" to the Azerbaijani judo family!