Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani judokas Hidayat Heydarov (73 kilograms) and Zelim Kotsoyev (100 kilograms), who won a gold medal at the "Paris-2024" Summer Olympic Games, have returned to their homeland.

Azernews reports, citing Azertag that representatives of the Azerbaijan Judo Federation, members of the media, fans, and athletes' relatives welcomed our Olympic champions at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport.

H. Heydarov, who joined the competition at the Olympics from the quarter-final stage, defeated Israeli athlete Tohar Butbul in the first match, and Canadian Artur Margelido in the quarter-finals by ippon. He won the title of Olympic champion by defeating Kosovar Akil Gyakova in the semi-finals and Frenchman John Benjamin Gaba in the final.
Zelim Kotsoyev, who started the competition in the round of 16, met Polish Pyotr Kuchera in the first match. Our European and world champion, who defeated his opponent by ippon, qualified for the quarter-finals. At this stage, our athlete, who defeated the representative of Israel, Peter Palchik, qualified for the semi-finals.

Here, he defeated Uzbekistan's Muzaffarbek Turoboyev with a vase-ari and advanced to the finals. In the decisive round, our representative, who disappointed Georgian Ilya Sulamanidzei with an ippon, became the Olympic champion.

To recall, the last time the Azerbaijan national judo team won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics was in 2008 with the participation of Elnur Mammadli (73 kilograms).

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