Azeri team doesn't participate in Team event European Games

The national team of Azerbaijan will not participate in the judo team event within the framework of the first European Games, head coach of the Azerbaijani national judo team Hajiaga Hajiahmadov said.

He said that due to the fact that the European Games are being held in Baku, it was planned to bring the national team to the competitions, but later the situation changed.

“We do not have enough athletes so that the team would perform in full strength,” said the head coach. “Azerbaijani athlete Rustam Orujov (73 kg) got a serious injury June 26 in the individual competitions. Due to the fact that there is no possibility to replace him, Azerbaijan will not participate in the team event. In this regard, organizers of the competition have been officially informed about it June 26.”

Today the day went devastating for the medal hope of Azerbaijan. Not one of the highluy expected judoka met the expectations. World number two Elmar Gasimov was defeated by Joao Fonseca (POR) and 2013 World Champion Elnur Mammadli by 2014 World Champion Lukas Krpalek. Also in the category U90 things didn't go the way it should but those hopes were small compared to the men's U100kg category.In total Azernbaijan only took one silver medal, by Orkhan Safarov U60kg.

The European Games that kicked off in Baku June 12, will last till June 28. There is a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports.

More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe came to Baku to represent their nations over 17 days of competition. Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.