Grand Slam of Baku hosts lots of top athletes this year

Azerbaijan judo is clearly in a speedy elevator as at all levels the Azeri are showing outstanding performances. With the forthcoming Grand Slam in Baku once more an opportunity to shine, at home in the capital. The event will give a special attention to some of the top stars who retired recently from international judo such as Rustam Orujov and Mammadali Mehdiyev.

It will be the eleventh edition of this event and the Olympic qualification for Paris 2024 is at full speed. Let’s have a look at some of the top stars for this Grand Slam.

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At this top event a strong team of Israel will show its face. World Champion Inbar Lanir will again put on her red backpatch and try to do her normal judo despite the pressure. One of her friends who taught her how to deal with the pressure is Raz Hershko, the heavyweight will also be competing in Baku and is the number one seed in the heavyweight category.

Speaking about number one seeds, World Masters Winner Sanne van Dijke will again be present in Baku and try to keep the pace with her gold medal of Budapest U70kg. Another top athlete and compatriot of Van Dijke is Michael Korrel, not super lucky at the recent events such as Masters and World Championships, but no doubt he can give the top athletes a hard time.

World masters winner from Kosovo Laura Fazliu will be one of the favourites, despite her silver medal at Europeans, her Masters title seriously contributed that pundits see her as the top seed in U57kg. Without the two top Canadians Fazliu is without a doubt a candidate for Kosovo to win one of the 14 titles in Azerbaijan.

So far Azerbaijan has been mainly successful in juniors and cadets and captured three World Tour titles in 2023 at the highest level. Gold for lightweights U60kg Aghayev (Paris) and Bayramov (Tbilisi) as well as gold for Zelym Kotsoiev at the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv in February. Kotsoiev was also able to capture the only medal for Azerbaijan at the World Championships taking bronze in U100kg.

We can expect a record of participants in this pre-Olympic year.