Two More Medals for Azerbaijan at Ranking Tournament

July 19, 2025

The ranking tournament in Budapest, Hungary is nearing its conclusion, with Greco-Roman wrestlers taking to the mat on the third day of competition. Five members of Team Azerbaijan competed across various weight classes, earning two bronze medals.

72 kg
Ruslan Nurullayev began his campaign with a confident 5:1 victory over Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Kalenov but fell short in the quarterfinals, losing 0:10 to Georgia’s Yuri Lomadze. In the repechage round, Nurullayev edged past Norway’s Juan Aak (6:4) and dominated another Georgian wrestler, Giorgi Chkhikvadze, 9:0 to claim the bronze medal.

Competing in an upper weight class, Hasrat Jafarov defeated Serbian world champion Ali Arsalan (2:1) and Kazakhstan’s Merey Maulitkanov (5:3) on his way to the semifinals. However, he lost 3:5 to Uzbekistan’s Abdulla Aliyev and did not compete in the bronze medal bout due to a wrist injury.

87 kg
Islam Abbasov opened with a 3:1 win over Hungary’s Istvan Takacs. His round of 16 match ended early as Dutch wrestler Marcel Sterkenburg was forced to withdraw due to injury. Abbasov then advanced past Norway’s Exauce Mukubu on criteria (1:1) but was defeated 0:4 by Hungary’s David Losonczi in the semifinals. In the bronze medal match, Abbasov overpowered European champion Aleksandar Komarov of Serbia with a 5:2 victory.

130 kg
Beka Kandelaki secured a dominant 9:0 technical superiority win against South Korea’s Seungchan Lee but was narrowly defeated by Hungary’s Darius Vitek in the quarterfinals on criteria (3:3). Due to injury, Kandelaki did not compete in the repechage round against Hungary’s Koppany Laszlo.

In the same weight class, Sarkhan Mammadov eliminated two American wrestlers—Aden Attao (9:0) and Courtney Freeman (4:3)—to reach the semifinals. There, he was pinned by Hungary’s Darius Vitek and went on to lose a close bronze medal match against Koppany Laszlo, 1:2.

As a result, Azerbaijan’s Greco-Roman team kicked off the ranking tournament with two bronze medals.