Azerbaijani freestyle wrestlers have won six medals at the U17 European Wrestling Championships in Skopje, North Macedonia, Azernews reports.
Said Pashayev (92 kg) faced Russian Abdurazak Shabanov in the decisive bout.
In a fierce and exciting match, Pashayev secured victory with a score of 6:5 and once again became the European champion. Notably, last year Said Pashayev was the best in Greco-Roman wrestling on the continent, and now he has repeated that success in freestyle as well.
Hasan Hasanov (60 kg) narrowly lost to Ukrainian Zorab Aloev in the final with a minimal score of 4:5, earning a silver medal.
Ramal Mirgusainov (51 kg) barely defeated Turkish Bughru Kava in the consolation match with a scoreof 2:1. He demonstrated his strength in the third-place match against Armenian Vaan Azaryan, winning 10:6.
Thus, the Azerbaijani national team concluded the European Championship with three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.
Recall that the previous day, Ravan Gasanizade (48 kg) and Ruslan Alizade (55 kg) became champions, while Hakim Taghiyev (110 kg) took bronze.
Wrestling remains the most popular sport in the country and is overseen by the National Wrestling Federation, which was established in 1993.
The Rio Games opened a new page in wrestling for Azerbaijan. The country became one of only two nations ever to increase the number of medals achieved in five consecutive games.
In 2020, Azerbaijani freestyle wrestlers finished third in the overall medal table of the Individual World Cup in Serbia.
National wrestlers won two medals, including silver and bronze. Russia topped the medal table, followed by Turkiye.
In 2022, Azerbaijani wrestler Osman Nurmagomedov (92 kg) was crowned the World Champion in Belgrade.
Nurmagomedov became the World Champion after defeating the Russian wrestler in the final.
At 2024 Summer Olympic, Greco-Roman wrestler Hasrat Jafarov (67 kg), freestyle wrestlers Giorgi Meshvildishvili (125 kg) and Magomedkhan Magomedov (97 kg) won bronze medals for Azerbaijan.
