Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijani judokas Rustam Orujov and Khidayat Heydarov have topped the world ranking in the weight category up to 73 kilograms in the updated list of the International Judo Federation (IJF) following the World Judo Championships in Tokyo.

Taking a silver medal at the Championships, Orujov retained leadership in his weight category with 6,595 points.

Khidayat Heydarov scored 5,635 points and took the second place. The bronze medal of Heydarov at the Championships allowed him to improve his place in the ranking by four positions.

As for the rest of the national judokas, Mammadali Mehdiyev (90 kg) is in the top five with 4,735 points, while Nijat Shikhalizade (66 kg) with 2,185 points takes 28th place.

After performing in Tokyo, Elmar Gasimov (100 kg), with 3,557 points is now the 12th judoka in the world.

The heavyweights of the Azerbaijani team Ushangi Kokauri (over 100 kg) with 3,208 points and Irina Kindzerskaya (over 78 kg) with 5,003 points occupy 16th and 6th places respectively.

Judo became an Olympic sport at the Tokyo Games in 1964 and thus became universal. The International Judo Federation today brings together 195 national federations and 5 continental unions.

Judo is one of the most developed sports in Azerbaijan, where the National Judo Federation was established in 1972. The Azerbaijani judo team is considered one of the best in the world.

The adult judo team of Azerbaijan made considerable progress in 2016. The team won 51 awards in competitions of various levels. The results showed that Azerbaijani judokas won 351 times out of 710 fights during the year.

The Azerbaijani judo fighter, silver medalist of Rio-2016 Summer Olympic Games, Rustam Orujov was named the best in Azerbaijan's male team. Moreover, he is the strongest in the world in his weight class of 73kg, as well as among all weight classes.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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