Started on 30 January
the European Cup competitions on Judo have ended in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the
tournament 435 athletes (268 men, 167 women) have competed for the winning
title from 58 countries.In the tournament,
which giving license points to Rio 2016 Olympics (in august), Azerbaijan judo
team has been represented by 23 athletes (19 men, 4 women). The prestigious
competition has been successful for judokas of our country. Our national team
has won a gold medal (Elbrus
Zamanov) and 2 bronze medals (Ilkin Babazada, Tural Safguliyev) of the
European Cup.It is very nice, winning
the bronze medals both athletes are graduates of “Neftchi” Sports Club.
Competing in the 66 kg weight Ilkin Babazada has won over the Hungarian Bence
Zambori, the representative of Slovenia Rok Plesnik and the Georgian Mindia
Liluashvili and has reached to the final. At this stage, Babazada has lost to
the Belarus athlete Dzimitry Shershan, but he has won the Georgian judoka Gela
Kelikhashvili in the fight for bronze medal and has become the 3rd.Other judoka of the
club Tural Safguliyev has won the Russian Rustam Amirmetov, the Dutch Michel
Verhagen and the Georgian Tornike Jugeli on the way to semifinal. He has lost
to the Belarusian Ilhar Zhukau in the semifinal, but he has won over the
representative of Netherland Dax Biesbrouck and has taken the bronze medal.Note that, general
manager of the “Neftchi” Sports Club, the international referee Elmar Babanli
has acted as the representative of Justice and has managed several matches at a
high level in the European Cup competitions.