In the first half of the year, Azerbaijani judokas have won 94 medals on the international stage.
According to Idman.biz, based on statistical data from the Judobase portal, which tracks results from cadet, junior, senior, and veteran competitions, Azerbaijani athletes have earned 32 gold, 31 silver, and 31 bronze medals over the past six months.
The results of the Azerbaijani national team at the Cadet European Championship held last week in Skopje played a significant role in the medal count increase. At the tournament in North Macedonia’s capital, Anar Guliyev (50 kg), Rasul Alizada (55 kg), and Zeyd Alasgarov (60 kg) became European champions, while Narmin Aghamirzazade (48 kg) won silver, and Gulshan Huseynova (44 kg) and Leyla Alakbarova (48 kg) earned bronze medals.
A portion of the success also came from performances at the IJF World Judo Tour’s Grand Slam events. Since the beginning of the year, Azerbaijani judokas have collected 17 medals at these tournaments — 4 gold, 4 silver, and 5 bronze. Champions included Ruslan Pashayev (66 kg) in Paris, Zelim Tckaev (81 kg) in Baku, Balabay Aghayev (60 kg) in Dushanbe, and Eljan Hajiyev (90 kg) in Astana, who made a successful return from injury.
In addition, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals from the European Championships and 3 bronze medals from the World Championships have been included in the current ranking.
At present, Azerbaijan ranks 11th in the world medal standings. Germany and Ukraine, each with 34 golds, are just ahead, having earned two more gold medals than Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani team is ahead of countries like Uzbekistan, Spain, Canada, Hungary, Kazakhstan, the USA, and others.
France leads the medal standings with 112 gold, 84 silver, and 143 bronze medals. Georgia follows in second place with 74 gold, 72 silver, and 89 bronze, while athletes competing under the flag of the International Judo Federation complete the top three with 63 gold, 43 silver, and 76 bronze medals.
The second half of the year will also feature a busy international calendar, including seven IJF World Judo Tour events and various age-category European and World Championships.
Idman.biz
