The European Judo Championship in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, has ended.
Idman.biz reports that the Azerbaijani national team, which finished the competition with 2 gold and 1 silver medals, took the second place in the team score.
Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg) and Eljan Hajiyev (90 kg) defeated all their opponents and experienced the joy of championship. Balabay Aghayev (60 kg) only lost in the final and settled for silver.
2nd in a Row, 3rd in History
The Azerbaijani national team repeated the record number of gold medals in the European Championship. Our team won two championships in Montpellier (France) a year ago. Our judokas, who have paired gold for the second time in a row, first set this record 7 years ago. In 2017, the Azerbaijani national anthem was played in Warsaw (Poland). It is interesting that Hidayat Heydarov was the author of one of the successes in all championships where our national team won two gold awards.
Master of the European Tatami
Speaking of Hidayat, our 73 kg judoka has become the master of the European tatami. It is not possible for every athlete to become the continental champion 3 times in a row. Even in 2017, Heydarov showed that the weight of 73 kg is the strongest. Our representative, who won the title back after 5 years for the 3rd time in a row and for the 4th time in total, broke the Azerbaijani record he shared. Before that, Hidayat and Elchin Ismayilov were three-time European champions. Heydarov already owns this name four times. Also, since Ismayilov's three successes were not consecutive, it was the first time that the same judoka won consecutive victories.
9th Champion
Before Zagreb, 8 Azerbaijanis had become European judo champions. Eljan, who achieved his first success in Croatia, completed the "nine". Among these champions, Hidayat won 4, Elchin won 3, Elnur Mammadli won 2, and the others won 1 each.
15th Gold
Our team, which made its debut as an independent country in the European championships in 1993, was also happy with the jubilee gold. Our national team, which had 13 championships before Zagreb, increased this number to 15 with Hidayat and Eljan. We should mention that there were successes even with these golds won in 32 years. For example, Nazim Huseynov, who brought the first championship to Azerbaijan in 1993, rejoiced at the same success with the CIS team a year ago.
Historic Success
Although the Azerbaijani national team won 2 gold medals in one championship for the third time, they left behind their successes in both Warsaw and Montpellier. We are talking about the number of awards according to the parameters. Neither Poland nor France had a judoka who lost in the final along with our champions. Together with 2 golds won 7 years ago, 3 bronzes were obtained. Last year, no medals were won except for championships. This time, the fact that 2 champions are accompanied by a vice-champion indicates a new record and historical success.
At Our Weight and First
If we say that our national team has privatized the weight of 73 kg, we will probably not be wrong. Our three different judokas won 6 European gold medals in this weight. Before the hegemony of Hidayat, Elnur Mammadli and Rustam Orujov spoke in this category. Eljan opened a new page for Azerbaijani judo. He proved that our national team can be successful in the weight of 90 kg. Until then, our national team could not win in that category. In general, our team became the European champion in 6 weights. Apart from the mentioned weights of 73 kg and 90 kg, we had three successes at 60 kg, two at 66 kg and 100 kg, and one at 81 kg.
European Judo Champions of Azerbaijan
1993. Nazim Huseynov (60 kg)
2000. Elchin Ismayilov (60 kg)
2001. Elchin Ismayilov (60 kg)
2005. Elchin Ismayilov (66 kg)
2006. Elnur Mammadli (73 kg)
2011. Elnur Mammadli ( 81 kg)
2016. Rustam Orujov (73 kg)
2017. Elkhan Mammadov (100 kg)
2017. Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg)
2020. Orkhan Safarov (66 kg)
2022. Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg)
2023. Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg ) )
2023. Zelym Kotsoiev (100 kg)
2024. Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg)
2024. Eljan Hajiyev (90 kg)
59 Medals
European judo does not only consist of individual continental championships. Various team competitions and open championships have also been held since 1951. Azerbaijan has 59 awards in the overall medal ranking. Our team won 17 gold, 17 silver and 25 bronze medals. Our team, which joined the continent's judo family in 1993 and not in the 50s and 60s of the last century like other countries, is 15th in the overall list.
It should be noted that the 2025 European Championship will be held in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro.
Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz
