Nihat Claims Gold, Murad Takes Bronze as Ranking Tournament Concludes

July 20, 2025

The final day of the ranking tournament in Budapest, Hungary saw members of Azerbaijan’s Greco-Roman wrestling team return to the mat, with two more medals added to the tally—one gold and one bronze.

60 kg
Nihat Mammadli delivered a dominant performance en route to the title. He secured victories over South Korea’s Seunghak Kim (9:0), Uzbekistan’s Mehrage Bahramov (4:0), and Serbia’s Georgi Tibilov (3:2) to reach the final. In the gold medal bout, Mammadli confidently defeated India’s Sumit Sumit with a 5:1 score to claim the top spot on the podium.

In the same weight class, Ilkin Gurbanov was eliminated in the 1/8 final after a 1:9 loss to Kazakhstan’s Galym Kabdunassarov.

63 kg
Ziya Babashov suffered a narrow defeat in the qualification round against Uzbekistan’s Asian champion and world bronze medalist Islamjon Bahramov, losing on criteria (3:3).

67 kg
Farid Khalilov started strong with a 6:0 win over South Korea’s Byeonggi Seon but was edged out in the quarterfinals by Georgia’s world and European champion Leri Abuladze on criteria (1:1).

77 kg
Sanan Suleymanov defeated Serbia’s Aleksa Ilic (4:0) and Moldova’s Alexandrin Gutiu (8:0) to reach the quarterfinals. Ulvu Ganizade, competing in this weight class for the first time, earned victories against Croatia’s Antonio Kamenashevich (1:1) and South Korea’s Hyeonjin Kang (3:3) before also advancing to the quarters. However, Ganizade did not appear for their scheduled match, allowing Suleymanov to progress to the semifinals. There, he lost a tight battle to Russia’s Sergey Kutuzov (6:8), and later fell to Hungary’s Levente Leva (2:3) in the bronze medal match.

82 kg
Gurban Gurbanov withdrew from the competition due to injury and did not compete in his scheduled bout against Moldova’s Mihail Bradu.

97 kg
Murad Ahmadliyev impressed with wins over Turkey’s Abdulkadir Cebi (3:1), Serbia’s Uros Krstin (9:0), and Georgia’s Giorgi Katsanashvili (8:0) to advance to the semifinals. He was defeated there by Georgia’s Giorgi Melia (1:5), but bounced back in the bronze medal match, overcoming Russia’s Ilya Yermolenko with an 8:4 win.

His teammate in the same weight class, Arif Niftullayev, defeated India’s Nitesh Nitesh (9:0) and Kazakhstan’s Yusup Matsiyev (2:2) before being pinned by Giorgi Melia in the quarterfinal. In the repechage round, Arif was narrowly beaten by Ilya Yermolenko (3:3).

As a result, Azerbaijan’s Greco-Roman wrestlers ended the final day of competition with one gold and one bronze medal. The team