Saeid Mollaei will fight for Azerbaijan

Saeid Mollaei will be continuing his career as a judoka for Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijan Judo Federation confirmed IJF has officially agreed that the Olympic silver medalist and 2018 world champion can fight under the Azerbaijani flag with immediate effect.

According to the new sports rules adopted by the IJF, when an athlete changes the country of origin, his rating points will not be reset, as before. According to this rule, Mollaei will keep his current rating points that he collected U81kg.

Former Iranian world champion came over from Mongolia for which he fought at the Olympic Games last year in Tokyo. At the Tokyo Summer Olympics he claimed a silver medal. In addition, Mollaei has won the Grand Slam in Düsseldorf in 2018 and Grand prix in Hohhot in 2019 and was a medallist at 13 IJF World Tour events. The last two for Mongolia.

Azerbaijan have a gap in taking a dominant position in the U81kg category. “The weight class was considered a problem in the Azerbaijani national men's team. Although we have many promising athletes in this weight class, unfortunately, no one has won an award in high-level competitions after our Olympic champion Elnur Mammadli.” Mammadli took the Olympic title U73kg in 2008 in Beijing but switched to the U81kg class and took the European title U81kg.

The Azerbaijan Judo Federation explains: “Mollaei is considered one of the world's leading judokas in the weight category, and we aim to overcome this problem in the short term by joining our national team. At the same time, we believe that an athlete with a disciplined and rich experience like Saeid in the national team U81kg. In addition to increasing competition in the weight class, it will have a positive impact on the development of our talented and young athletes", said ACF Secretary General Rashad Rasullu.

According to Mollaei, one of his biggest dreams was to perform under the Azerbaijani flag: “Therefore, after the expiration of my contract with the Mongolian Judo Association, I took the first initiative and applied to the ACF and expressed my intention to represent Azerbaijan. I am very glad that from now on I will participate in competitions under the flag of my native Azerbaijan. The world and European championships and the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics are waiting for us. We have little time, I will do my best to show high results and raise our flag high.”