Three bronze medal opportunities at the World championships

The U23 World Championships continue in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Today, members of Azerbaijan’s women’s and freestyle wrestling teams took to the mats.

Elnura Mammadova (53 kg) earned a confident 9–0 victory over Türkiye’s Sıla Aykul but was defeated 11–14 by Spain’s Carla Soler in the quarterfinals.

Gunay Gurbanova (59 kg) made a strong debut, overpowering Bulgaria’s Viktoria Boynova 8–1. She went on to defeat Moldova’s Madalina Prisacari (11–0) and Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Khusainova (by fall) to advance to the semifinals. Facing Japan’s Ruka Natami, Gurbanova narrowly missed victory in the final seconds, losing 1–3. She will compete for the bronze medal tomorrow.

Birgul Sultanova (62 kg) lost by fall to Russia’s Yekaterina Koshkina in the qualification round.

In the men’s freestyle competition, Magomed-Bashir Khaniyev (74 kg) opened with a dominant 10–0 win over Greece’s Georgios Ioakeimidis. He then defeated Armenia’s Grigor Cholakhyan 14–5 and overcame Bahrain’s Magomedrasul Asluev 7–3 to reach the semifinals. Khaniyev fell short of the final, losing 3–7 to Türkiye’s Muhammed Ozmus. He will wrestle for bronze tomorrow.

Sadiq Mustafazade (92 kg) eliminated Spain’s Mukhammadsultan Kopbayev with a commanding 10–0 victory but was stopped 0–8 by Iran’s Mohammadmobin Azimi in the round of 16. Mustafazade will enter the repechage round tomorrow.