OMM Redaksiyası
The Azerbaijani team won two medals and competed in a series of notable bouts on the fourth day of the judo world championships in Baku. Zalim Tsagayev took silver in the under-81kg category after losing the final to Georgia’s Tato Grigalashvili. The bout lasted about 10 minutes, with the winner decided in extra time. Grigalashvili claimed his fourth world title.
In the same category, Omar Rajabli defeated Kazakhstan’s Abilaykhan Zhubanazar in the bronze-medal bout. With the result, he matched the bronze medal his father, Elkhan Rajabli, won at the 2001 world championships. Father and son achieved the same result in the same weight category at their first senior world championships.
One of the day’s surprises was the performance of six-time world champion Clarisse Agbegnenou. The French judoka returned to the world championships seven months after the birth of her second child, but lost to Hungary’s Anna Kriza in the quarterfinals and then to Mongolia’s Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo in the repechage, finishing seventh. Kriza went on to lose in the semifinals and the bronze-medal bout, placing fifth.
Japan’s Haruka Kaku retained her world title in the under-63kg category and extended her winning streak in IJF World Tour events to 40. The championships in Baku also marked the return of Iranian judokas to the senior world championships for the first time since 2019. Iran’s Ilyas Parhizgar lost his opening bout. At the end of day four, Azerbaijan ranked second in the standings with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. The championships continue through October 11.
