Azerbaijan national judo team achieved one of most successful results in World Junior Championships history

Given the fact that the World Championship will be held in far away America and the venue is well above sea level, the delegation was sent to Lima eight days early in order to adapt to the environment.

Four members of the national team, consisting of only boys, participated in the World Championship with a team of seven people, eventually managed to make it to the podium.

Among them, having defeated all his opponents, Nihad Mamishov (55kg) and Jasur Ibadli (73kg) won gold medals, while Mahammadali Husiyev (50kg) and Mehdi Abbasov (81kg) won bronze medals. At the same time, Azerbaijan took the 2nd place among 48 countries in the team scoring, losing only to Japan, while in the men’s ranking it took the 1st place ahead of all countries, including Japan.

Nihad Mamishov, one of our champions, became world champion for the second time. Another remarkable thing about our 17-year-old athlete, who won all his five matches during the championships by ippon, was that he won all his victories on the ne-wasa position. Mamishov’s high performance in the Peruvian capital did not escape the attention of the International Judo Federation (IJF). Thus, a post on IJF’s official social media page with the headline “ne-waza-baijan” was met with interest.

In particular, our other champion, Jasur Ibadli, fought with great tenacity and determination, and  made history as the first world junior champion of Azerbaijan in the 73kg weight category. 

As for our other medalists, Mahamadali Husiyev won the bronze medal of the World Championship when he was only 15 years old.

In June this year, he finished third on the podium at the European Championships organized in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

The bronze medal of Mehdi Abbasov, who has won high places in several European Cup tournaments, is also a first. Thus, he became the first Azerbaijani teenager to win the World Championship award in the 81kg weight category.

We congratulate our athletes and wish them new victories!