OMM Newsroom
Azerbaijan’s Greco-Roman wrestling team finished second in the team standings at the world championships in Astana, scoring 104 points. Iran took first place with 192 points, while Uzbekistan was third with 80. The Azerbaijani wrestlers won two gold medals and one silver.
Eldaniz Azizli defeated Iran’s Peyam Ahmadi 3-1 in the 55kg final to become world champion for the fifth time. The 34-year-old wrestler said he would announce a decision about his future within the next week or two, after consulting with the coaches and federation leadership.
Sanana Suleymanov won his first world title by defeating Moldova’s Alexandrin Gutu 8-3 in the 77kg final. It was the Azerbaijani team’s only gold medal in an Olympic weight category.
Results in Olympic weight categories
Nihat Mammadli claimed silver after losing 8-4 to Armenia’s Karen Aslanyan in the 63kg final. Hasrat Jafarov lost 1-1 to Iran’s Saeid Esmaili in the 67kg semifinals and 8-5 to Kazakhstan’s Bagdat Sabaz in the bronze-medal bout.
Murad Mammadov lost 4-1 to Aidos Sultangali in the 60kg quarterfinals. Islam Abbasov was beaten by Semyon Novikov after taking a 5-0 lead in their 87kg bout. Murad Ahmadov lost 5-4 to Kirill Maskevich at 97kg, while Sarkhan Mammadov was defeated 6-2 by Pavel Hlinchuk at 130kg.
Head coach Mahammad Bana said he had expected five or six medals and took responsibility for the defeats. He said the team needed to pay greater attention to psychological preparation. The world championships, scheduled to take place in Las Vegas from Sept. 11-19, 2027, will also feature a race for Olympic qualification spots; the countries of the four medalists in each Olympic weight category will receive a quota place.
