Azerbaijani athletes stay in title hunt at European tournaments

This weekend saw Azerbaijani athletes across different sports compete at European championships.

Our country's chess players participate in the European Chess Championship in Katowice, Poland, which is currently playing in its 11th Round. 

The 10th round saw no decisive result in the headline clash between tournament leaders Nijat Abasov and David Guijarro (ESP), with the pair settling for a draw.

Aydin Suleymanli secured a win playing black against Lithuania’s Valerijus Kazakauskas, while reigning national champion Mahammad Muradli defeated Latvia’s Nikita Meshkovs playing white.

With the final round being played on April 19th, three Azerbaijani players sit inside the top five and remain in contention for the title: Abasov and Suleymanli share the lead on eight points, while Muradli is fifth on tiebreaks.

In the final round, Suleymanli is facing Muradli, while Abasov takes on Romania’s Daniel Bogdan.

In neighbouring Georgia, judoka across the continent have gathered for the European Judo Championship in the capital, Tbilisi.

The championship finished with Azerbaijani judokas securing four medals: Hidayat Heydarov (73 kg) claiming silver, while Ahmed Yusifov (60kg), Turan Bayramov (66kg) and Zelim Tckaev (81kg) each took bronze.

Zelym Kotsoiev (100kg) finished his participation with a penalty, as he was disqualified from the competition for using a prohibited move ("hansoku-mate" penalty in judo) against Dutch judoka Simeon Catharina in the semi-final round.

By Nazrin Sadigova