Azerbaijan earns tally of three golds amid mixed results U-23 European Wrestling Championships

Azerbaijani Greco-Roman wrestlers have concluded their competition at the European Wrestling Championships in Tirana, the capital of Albania.

Competing in all weight classes, the country’s Greco-Roman wrestlers won five medals—two gold and three bronze—which means exactly half the team will return home with awards. Who could say that’s a bad result?!

So, let’s start with the bronze medalists. In the absence of four-time world champion Eldaniz Azizli, 34, Azerbaijan was represented in the 55-kg weight class by Rashad Mammadli, who is ten years younger than the living legend of Azerbaijani wrestling. In his first match, he faced Russia’s Emin Sefershaev—the very same opponent who prevented Azizli from becoming a three-time European champion last year.

Sefershaev also defeated Mammadli, becoming the continent’s top wrestler for the third time. Rashad, meanwhile, since his opponent had reached the final, continued to compete and achieved the best possible result under the circumstances—winning the bronze medal.

In the 87 kg weight class, the highly experienced Islam Abbasov won the bronze medal for Azerbaijan, marking his fourth European bronze medal. The only disappointment is that the 30-year-old athlete has been unable to reach the final of the continental championship. He managed to do so for the first and last time back in 2019 in Bucharest, when he lost in the decisive bout to the famous Ukrainian Zhan Beleniuk.

The third bronze medalist on the team is Nihat Mammadli (60 kg), and for him, unfortunately, this is a step backward. After winning two European titles, a bronze medal is unlikely to be a source of pride for him, though it certainly demonstrates consistency.

Now let’s talk about our gold medalists, who were trained by the same coach—Vagif Feyzullayev. We’re talking about two-time European champion Gurban Gurbanov and our new record-holder—now four-time continental champion Hasrat Jafarov (67 kg).

Interestingly, he also became the first Azerbaijani athlete in an Olympic sport to win the continental title four times in a row.

Gurban Gurbanov (82 kg) is trying to keep up with his friend and teammate; unlike Nihat, he managed to defend his title in Tirana. If things continue this way, the 24-year-old wrestler could soon outshine his now much more famous namesake in popularity.

And now a word about the underperformers of this championship. While few people had high expectations for Ziya Babashov (63 kg) and Ruslan Nurullayev (72 kg), the poor showing by Sanan Suleymanov (77 kg) and Murad Ahmadiyev (97 kg) warrants a separate coaching review.

After all, both wrestlers are undoubtedly very talented, but Sanan, who became European champion in 2020, hasn’t produced any results of even the slightest significance for three years now. And that can’t help but be a cause for concern. As for Ahmadiyev, we apparently expected too much from him after his spectacular victory over four-time world champion, Armenian wrestler Artur Aleksanyan, at last year’s European Championships.

However, I didn’t want to end this article on a down note, so I saved the best for last, so to speak. At the conclusion of the championship, the Azerbaijani Greco-Roman wrestling team took first place in the team standings, earning 133 points for five medals. Türkiye (121) and Georgia (118) followed.

And to be honest, I think this is more a success for Alexander Tarakanov’s team—he left the national team earlier this year—than for Iranian coach Mohammad Ban, who was officially appointed head coach of the national team on January 12—just four months ago. Don’t you agree, gentlemen?

By Vugar Vugarli, specially for Caliber.Az