Started in Havana, capital of Cuba on 22 January Judo Grand Prix
competitions have been finished.Azerbaijan national team has been represented by following judokas in
the tournament under the guidance of head coach Peter Seisenbacher. Ilgar
Mushkiyev, Orkhan Safarov, Tarlan Karimov, Rustam Orujov, Abdulhag Rasullu, Rustam
Alimli, Ramin Gurbanov, Shahin Qahramanov, Elmar Gasimov, Elkhan Mammadov and
Ushangi Kokauri. Our athletes have won 1 gold and 2 bronze medals demonstrating
great determination and professionalism in the race.The leader judoist of the world ranking Rustam
Orujov (73 kg) has joined the race in the second stage. Our judoka before has
won the representative of Montenegro Nikola Gusic, and then has won Italian
Enrico Parlati on the way to the final. Then Orujov has won over Ghana athlete
Emmanuel Nartey. And in the semi-final Orujov has qualified for the final by
beating Mongolian judoka Odbayar Ganbaatar. In the decisive match our athlete
has won Victor Svortov with waza-ari move and he has won the gold medal of the Havana
Grand Prix.In the weight of 60 kg Orkhan Safarov has also joined the fight in the
second round. At first he has won the Austrian LudwigPaischer, the next he has won the Mongolian
representative Tsogtbaatar TsendOchir and in the quarter final he has
won AshleyMcKenzie
and has reached the semifinal. At this
stage, Safarov has lost to the Brazilian judoka Eric Takabatake and has come
face to face with the representative of Uzbekistan Sharafuddin
Lutfillayev. In the tense match our judoka has defeat his opponent and he has
been awarded the bronze medal.The next medal has been won by Elkhan Mammadov for our country. In the
last day of the Grand Prix competition, our representative has won the local
athlete Yordani Fernandez Sastre
for the first meeting on tatami. Then he has defeated the Croatian Zlatko
Kumric. In the quarter-final our judoka has lost to the German Karl Richard Frey and has joined the consolatory matches.
Elkhan has come to face to face with the German athlete again in the first
match of this stage. Mammadov has won the German Dimitri Peters this time. And
in the next meeting our judoist has won the representative of the United Arab
Emirates İvan Remarenco with ippon and has won the bronze medal of the Cuban
Grand Prix.So, Azerbaijan national judo team has completed the Havana Gran Prix
with 3 medals. Rustam Orujov (73 kg) has won the gold medal and Orkhan Safarov
(60 kg) and Elkhan Mammadov (100 kg) have won the bronze medals.Note that, all three medalis judokas are the graduates of “Neftchi”
Sports Club.