Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The United World Wrestling has released its latest rankings for freestyle event, with seven Azerbaijani wrestlers in Top 10 in their categories.

Toghrul Asgarov (65kg) and Khetag Gazyumov (97kg) ranked second in their categories, while Haji Aliyev, Jabrayil Hasanov and Sharif Sharifov are third in the 61kg, 74kg and 86kg classes respectively, Azertac reported.

Ahmadnabi Gvarzatilov and Jamaladdin Mahammadov are also in Top 10 in rtheir respective categories.

Toghrul Asgarov is an Olympic and European champion in Freestyle wrestling.

In 2012 Summer Olympics Toghrul Asgarov won Olympic gold in men's 60-kilogram freestyle, beating Besik Kudukhov of Russia by a score of (1-0, 5-0).

Competing in the 96 kg weight category Khetag Gazyumov won bronze medals at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and silver at the 2016 Rio Games.

He also won four gold and four silver medals at the European and world championships in 2009–2014 and a gold medal at the 2015 European Games.

Another freestyle wrestler Haji Aliyev competed at the 61 kg division in the 2014 European Wrestling Championships and won the gold medal after beating Bekkhan Goygereyev of Russia.

Aliyev won the gold medal in the freestyle 61 kg class in the 2014 World Wrestling Championships.

In June 2015, Jabrayil Hasanov competed in the inaugural European Games, in Men's freestyle in the 74 kilogram range. He earned a bronze medal.

Sharif Sharifov finished first in the World Championship and won bronze in the European Championship. In 2012 Summer Olympics Sharif Sharifov won Olympic wrestling gold medal in 84-kilogram freestyle after defeating Puerto Rican Jaime Espinal.

Wrestling remains the most popular sport in the county and is overseen by the National Wrestling Federation, which was established in 1993.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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