Azernews.Az

Laman Ismayilova

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The 2025 European U23 Wrestling Championships has been held in Tirana, the capital of Albania, Azernews reports.

At the competition, Azerbaijani wrestling team became the European champion in the team standings for the fourth consecutive time with record results.

Having first won the title at the U-23 European Championship in 2022, the Azerbaijani freestyle wrestlers have held onto the top prize for four years now. This latest success has been remarkable with record-breaking figures. Our team has set new records for the number of points scored, medals earned, and the number of finals contested.

For the first time, our team won medals in 9 out of 10 weight categories in this competition. Additionally, five of national freestyle wrestlers competed in the finals of the continental championship for the first time.

With a total of 169 points, the Azerbaijani team established a new points record, surpassing its nearest competitor, Turkey, by 52 points. Ukraine secured third place with 104 points.

It is noteworthy that the team included Arseniy Djioyev (86 kg) who won a gold medal, while Jeyhun Allahverdiyev (61 kg), Kanan Heybatov (70 kg), Aghanazar Novruzov (74 kg), and Farid Jabbarov (79 kg) secured silver medals. Rahman İmanov (57 kg), Murad Haqverdiyev (65 kg), Sadiq Mustafazadə (92 kg), and Yusif Dursunov (125 kg) won bronze medals.

Wrestling remains the most popular sport in the county 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.