OMM Newsroom
Azerbaijan’s national team won six medals at the wrestling world championships in Astana: two gold, two silver and two bronze. However, freestyle head coach Khetag Gazyumov apologized to fans, while Greco-Roman head coach Mohammad Bana said he had expected five or six medals and took responsibility for the result.
The team lost nine bouts either while leading or by just one point. Nihat Mammadli led 4-0 in the final but lost 8-4. Gurban Gurbanov was beaten 7-6 after leading 6-0, while Islam Abbasov lost 6-5 after going ahead 5-0. In the bronze-medal bout, Hasrat Jafarov could not hold on to a 5-1 lead and lost 8-5.
Olympic weight classes and the medal race
Six of the 10 athletes who competed in medal bouts won awards. Only three of the six medals came in weight classes included in the programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics: gold for Sanan Suleymanov, silver for Arseni Cioyev and bronze for Giorgi Meshvildishvili. Suleymanov was the only medalist in the six Olympic Greco-Roman weight classes.
Azerbaijan’s freestyle team finished fourth in the team standings with 88 points and failed to win gold for a second consecutive year. The Greco-Roman wrestlers placed second with 104 points. The women’s team won just two bouts, with both athletes eliminated in the round of 16.
Next target
The next world championships will be held in Las Vegas from September 11-19, 2027. The event will award the first 72 qualification places for the Los Angeles Olympics; wrestlers who win medals in Olympic weight classes will secure places for their countries.
