OMM Newsroom
Baku will host the world sumo championship for the first time. The competition, scheduled for Oct. 17-18 at the Baku Sports Palace, will feature adults as well as boys and girls in the under-18 age group. Athletes will compete in individual and team events.
The championship will use the international amateur format rather than professional Japanese sumo. In this format, competitors are divided into weight classes, and women have their own events. Professional sumo has no weight classes and women do not compete. Amateur sumo also has different clothing rules: men wear underwear or tight shorts beneath the mawashi belt, while women wear a sports top or gymnastics attire.
According to Bulgarian media, the country’s sumo team arrived in Baku late after flights were canceled because of a severe storm in Istanbul. The team reached the capital at 4 a.m. and went directly to weigh-in. Its roster includes European champion Anna Metodieva, 2026 continental champion Presiyan Mihov and Ivan Blagoev, a bronze medalist at the 2025 world championship.
Azerbaijani sumo wrestlers have competed in international events since 2007. Namiq Sadigov and Amiraslan Ahmadov won gold medals at the 2013 European championship. In 2023, Azerbaijan’s team topped the European Cup standings with three gold and three silver medals. That year, Royal Aghamaliyev won silver at the world championship, while Jamal Feyziyev claimed two gold medals at the European Cup.
At the latest European championship, Javid Yusifov became continental champion and Amrah Shafiyev won two bronze medals; Azerbaijan’s team finished third. Legendary sumo yokozuna Hakuho Sen is also expected to come to Baku for the event. He visited the capital last year, when the championship’s mascot, “Azumo,” was introduced.
