The Grand Slam judo tournament has started in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Idman.biz reports that on the first day of the competition, seven judokas of the Azerbaijan national team took to the mat.
Four of them will compete for the bronze medal. Two of these athletes will face each other.
Men's
60 kg
Ahmad Yusifov made it to the semi-finals after defeating Dauren Syukenov (Kazakhstan), Yam Walczak (Israel) and Michel Augusto (Brazil). He lost to Yang Yung-wei (Chinese Taipei) in the match for a place in the final. Azerbaijan’s representative will meet Yeldos Smetov (Kazakhstan) in the third place duel.
Nazir Talibov defeated Jonathan Charon (Cuba), Magjan Shamsaddin (Kazakhstan) and Aybek Omirov (Turkmenistan) on the way to the semi-finals. He lost to Ramazan Abdulayev of neutral status in one step of the final. Talibov, who was injured in this match, will not compete for bronze.
66 kg
Two Azerbaijani judokas will face each other in the match for bronze. Kamran Suleymanov won the matches against Erbol Amasbekov (Kyrgyzstan), Julien Frascadore (Canada) and Strahinja Buncic (Serbia). He will try his strength in the match for bronze, losing to Italy's Matteo Piras in the semi-finals.
Although Ruslan Pashayev defeated Matej Polyak (Slovakia) and Gusman Kyrgyzbayev (Kazakhstan), he lost to Lukas Saa (Finland) in the 1/4 finals. Sardar Rahimova (Turkmenistan), who won the consolation match, will face her teammate in the bronze match.
Women's
48 kg
Leyla Aliyeva advanced to the semi-finals with victories over Zhibek Zhaksybay (Kazakhstan), Tara Babulfath (Sweden) and Natasha Ferreira (Brazil). She lost to Sabina Giliazova with neutral status at this stage. Aliyeva will meet Turkish Tugce Beder for the bronze medal.
57 kg
Acelya Toprak lost to Pihla Salonen (Finland) in the first match.
Although Fidan Alizade won over Dina Mukhanbat (Kazakhstan), she lost to Olympic champion Rafaela Silva (Brazil).
It should be noted that our nation is represented in Astana by 12 male and 3 female judokas.
Idman.biz
