Azerbaijan’s Olympic judo champion Zelim Kotsoiev has moved to the top of the world rankings in the under-100 kg category despite not competing at the Grand Slam tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan.
As reported by İdman.Biz, the International Judo Federation (IJF) updated its world rankings following the Astana Grand Slam, which concluded last weekend.
According to the updated standings, Kotsoiev, who has 5,120 ranking points, climbed from second to first place. The Azerbaijani judoka has not competed internationally since the European Championships in Tbilisi in mid-April, where he was disqualified. His rise came after former leader Dota Arai of Japan saw his ranking points reduced and dropped to 4,850 points.
Interestingly, Arai also did not participate in the Astana Grand Slam. Kotsoiev’s move to the top spot is linked to the IJF ranking system, under which points gradually decrease over time rather than remaining permanently unchanged.
Under IJF rules, athletes retain 100 per cent of ranking points earned during the first year after a tournament. After 12 months, the points are automatically reduced by half, while after two years they are completely removed from the ranking.
That is exactly what happened to Arai. His victory at last year’s Grand Slam event in Kazakhstan had previously been worth the full 1,000 points, but it has now been reduced to 500 points. As a result, the Japanese judoka lost his position at the top of the rankings, allowing Kotsoiev to move into first place without competing in Astana.
Returning to the Astana Grand Slam, the only medal for Azerbaijan came from heavyweight Ushangi Kokauri, who won silver in the over-100 kg division. Thanks to that result, Kokauri climbed three places in the rankings and now sits second in the world with 4,217 points.
The positions of Azerbaijan’s other leading judokas remained unchanged: Balabay Aghayev (60 kg, 3,658 points) is fourth, Ruslan Pashayev (66 kg, 3,413) is fifth, Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg, 4,046) is fifth, Zelim Tckaev (81 kg, 3,562) is fifth, and Murad Fatiyev (90 kg, 2,656) occupies ninth place.
