Ali crowned champion in Hungary as well

July 16, 2026

The wrestling ranking tournament is underway in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

On the second day of the competition, two members of Azerbaijan’s freestyle wrestling team stepped onto the podium.

Ali Tsokayev (92 kg) defeated American Dustin Plott 8-6, Bahrain’s Magomed Sharipov 2-0 and Türkiye’s Fatih Altunbas 11-0 to reach the final. However, the decisive bout did not take place after Ukraine’s Mukhammed Aliyev withdrew due to injury, and Ali was declared the winner of the ranking tournament for the first time in his career.

Thus, our representative has defeated all of his opponents in each of the three competitions he has entered this year. It should be noted that Ali became European champion in both the U23 and senior age categories this year.

Jabrayil Hajiyev (79 kg) defeated Kazakhstan’s Shamsat Tahir 2-0 and Georgia’s Luka Chkhetunidze 5-3 to reach the final. Jabrayil lost to Mongolia’s Suldхuu Olonbayar 0-5 in the decisive bout and claimed the silver medal at the ranking tournament.

Osman Nurmagomedov (97 kg) lost to Poland’s Zbigniew Baranowski 3-3 in the round of 16 on the last-point criterion.

Giorgi Meshvildishvili (125 kg) defeated Poland’s Robert Baran 3-1 and American Demetrius Thomas 6-2, but did not compete in the quarterfinals due to injury.

Gultakin Shirinova (55 kg) lost to Ukraine’s Natalia Klyvchutska 1-5 in the qualification round. After defeating Kazakhstan’s Aynur Ashimova 11-0 by technical superiority in the repechage, our wrestler lost 0-5 to Canada’s Karla Gonzalez in the bronze medal bout.