Azerbaijan Opens Ranking Tournament with Two Silver Medals

July 18, 2025

The final UWW Ranking Series event of the year has officially kicked off in Budapest, Hungary.

On the opening day of the tournament, three athletes from Azerbaijan’s freestyle wrestling team took to the mat.

Competing in the 57 kg weight class, Islam Bazarganov secured victories over Aryan Tsiutrin of Belarus (5–2), Adilet Almukhamedov of Kazakhstan (10–2), and Roberti Dingashvili of Georgia (5–2) to advance to the final. In the gold medal match, he faced American wrestler Luke Lilledahl and lost 1–3, finishing with a silver medal.

In the 65 kg category, Ali Rahimzada defeated Georgia’s Goderdzi Cebishvili (3–1), Kazakhstan’s Sherkhan Abila (11–0), and Bahrain’s Alibek Alibekov (9–2) en route to the final. In the deciding bout, he fell 1–5 to India’s Sujeet Sujeet, earning another silver medal for Team Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, Kenan Heybatov (70 kg) was eliminated in the qualification round after a 4–9 loss to Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadesavadkhui. Giorgi Meshvildishvili (125 kg) was unable to compete due to injury.