Two Azerbaijani Wrestlers Reach World Championship Final

The U17 World Wrestling Championships continue in Athens, Greece.

On the second day of the competition, the finalists in the Greco-Roman events at 45 kg, 51 kg, 60 kg, 71 kg, and 92 kg were determined.

In the 45 kg division, Abdurrahman Huseynli defeated the USA’s Tales Silva (6-3) and Georgia’s Saba Abashidze (9-6) to advance to the semifinals. However, the European champion was stopped by Kyrgyzstan’s Nurkerim Kumarbekov with a 0-7 loss. Huseynli will now wrestle for bronze against the winner of the match between Mustafa Guven (Turkey) and Timur Maharramov (Ukraine).

At 51 kg, Hikmat Hagverdiyev opened his campaign with a dominant 7-0 victory over Romania’s Andrei Pelean. The Azerbaijani continued his strong performance with a 9-2 win against Norway’s Abu Bakar Saga, then edged out Kyrgyzstan’s Islam Kurbanov in a tight semifinal battle, 4-3. Hagverdiyev will face Uzbekistan’s Otabek Tursunov in the final.

In the 60 kg category, Ali Nazarov began by defeating Croatia’s Roko Kuric (5-1). He went on to earn technical superiority wins over Georgia’s Lazare Gogotishvili (10-1) and Uzbekistan’s Humoyun Erkinov (9-0). In the semifinals, Nazarov prevailed over Iran’s Abolfazl Eshaghi by criteria after a 1-1 draw. He will face Kyrgyzstan’s Amangeldi Ysakbayev in tomorrow’s gold medal match.

At 71 kg, Yusif Ahmadli made a strong start, winning by technical superiority (8-0) against Turkey’s Emirhan Cakir. He then outclassed Georgia’s Giorgi Gogelashvili (7-2) and Tajikistan’s Alisher Ruzimadov (9-5). Ahmadli came close to reaching the final but lost momentum in the second period of his semifinal match against Uzbekistan’s Behruzbek Valiyev, losing 5-9 despite a five-point lead. His opponent in the bronze medal match will be one of Mohammad Kazemi (Iran), Matias Onnenlehto (Finland), or Radoslav Peryanski (Bulgaria).

In the 92 kg division, Said Pashayev fell 1-6 to Iran’s Amirsam Mohammadi in the round of 16. Since Mohammadi advanced to the final, Pashayev earned a spot in the repechage and will face Moldova’s Vladislav Vasilevski for a chance at bronze.