Azerbaijan takes EYOF title in judo

The Azerbaijan judo team have grabbed a gold medal at the 16th Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. The Azerbaijani judoka defeated Ukrainian opponents by 4-0 in the gold medal bout. The team was led by 2013 World Champion Elkhan Mammadov.

Kanan Nasibov was the number one seed in the heavyweight division but finished with an individual bronze so his determination to take the gold today was great. In the end it was a ne waza win for him and he set the precedent for this final.

Aydan Valiyeva (AZE) was the former cadet European champion, and took silver this year in the -48kg category, but for EYOF competed at U52kg. A change in direction and a sasai tsuri komi ashi against Tetiana LIMZAIEVA (UKR) ended the contest in the first half, and allowed team Azerbaijan to celebrate their second win.

Two of the -60kg medallists; Nurlan Karimli (AZE) and Nazar Viskov (UKR) went head to head in the -66kg division of the team event. Both avoiding danger, they managed to pick up penalties, but the momentum of the Azerbaijani’s was too strong, Viskov tried to get back to his feet and Karimli took advantage with an o soto gari to score the ippon, making the score 3-0.

The U57kg EYOF champion Fidan Alizada (AZE) was the first deciding point, going in there was pressure to take the fourth win for the team gold medal. The tension was clear and the contest intense, both athletes picked up waza ari scores as well as a shido going in to the final minute. After a mere 15 seconds, a colossal pick up from Alizada scored a second wazari and sealed the team title with a clean 4-0 win.

Kanan Nasibov was the number one seed in the heavyweight division but finished with an individual bronze so his determination to take the gold today was great. In the end it was a ne waza win for him and he set the precedent for this final.