20 Azerbaijani athletes of Youth Olympics: Where are they now? - RESEARCH

Baku. 19 October. REPORT.AZ/ Azerbaijani national team has shown the lowest result in the history of Summer Youth Olympic Games.

Report informs that only seven of 17 athletes were able to win medals in the third Olympics in the capital of Argentina Buenos Aires.

Vugar Talibov (judo, 66kg), Turan Bayramov (wrestling, 65kg) won gold, Tarmenkhan Babayev (weightlifting, 85 kg) grabbed silver, Javad Aghayev (taekwondo, 63 kg), Nurlan Safarov (boxing, 60 kg) and Shahana Nazarova (wrestling, 43 kg) claimed a bronze medal. Rhythmic gymnast Yelizaveta Luzan won a gold medal within mixed team of the International Olympic Committee. Her medal was not shown on behalf of his country in the overall ranking.

Athletes competed in gymnastics, boxing, athletics, wrestling, judo, swimming, taekwondo and table tennis.

However, the national team, which was competing with 12 athletes at the First Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010, won eight medals (5 gold, 3 silver) and ranked 11th in the medal standings among 204 countries.

In Nanjing-2014, 12 of 21 Azerbaijani athletes won 5 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze medals and the team was on the 10th place. This result is still considered the best.

This time, the Azerbaijani team ranked 31st out of 208 countries and 37th in the medal standings.

Report’s study revealed that the results of the Azerbaijani team, as well as the achievements of 20 young athletes who won medals in the previous two Olympic Games show decline. Most of them have significantly weakened, although a few of them had good achievements in prestigious competitions. There are even some who finished their career.

In the Singapore 2010, Murad Bazarov (Greco-Roman wrestling, 42kg), Elman Mukhtarov (Greco-Roman wrestling, 50kg), Patimat Bagomedova (female wrestling, 52kg), Nijat Rahimov (weightlifting, 69kg), Ali Mohammadabirov (freestyle wrestling, 100kg) won gold, Kanan Guliyev (freestyle wrestling, 54kg), Salman Alizade (boxing, 48kg) and Elvin Isayev (boxing, 57kg) won silver medals.

Murad Bazarov won gold at the European Championships among youth, silver at the world championships and gold medal in the world championship among juniors. Even though he is a member of the national team, he has no serious results today.

Elman Mukhtarov won a gold medal at the Youth Olympics in 2014, a bronze medal at the Baku-2015 1st European Games.

Ali Mahammadbirov won gold at the 2012 European Championship and bronze in world championship. He completed her career in 2016.

Kanan Guliyev became the champion of the country in 2012. Later he was injured and finished his career. He is currently the head of the wrestling hall at the Zenith Sports Society in Sumgait.

Patimat Baqomedova started a family and retired in 2015. At present, she lives with her family in Dagestan.

Powerlifter Nijat Rahimov joined the national team of Kazakhstan in 2014. He won gold at the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games.

In 2011, after the 2010 Olympics boxer Salman Alizade won a gold medal in the European championship among adults in Ankara, Turkey. In 2013, Alizade won the bronze medal in the continental championship. In 2016, he finished his amateur career and is currently engaged in professional boxing.

In 2012, Elvin Isayev won gold medal in the European Championship among men aged 19-22 in Kaliningrad, Russia. At the "Baku-2017"4th Islamic Solidarity Games, he stopped competing in the ¼ final.He is currently a member of the national team.

Teymur Mammadov (freestyle wrestling, 63 kg), Igbal Hajizade (freestyle wrestling, 100 kg), Rufat Huseynov (boxing, 49 kg), Leyla Gurbanova (female wrestling, 52 kg) and Islambek Dadov (Greco- Roman wrestling, 69 kg), Said Guliyev (taekwondo, 73 kg) won gold, Leyla Aliyeva (judo, 44 kg), Natig Gurbanli (judo, 55 kg), Jeren Ozbek (taekwondo, 44 kg), Jabbar Najafov (Greco-Roman 50 kg), Boris Yotov (academic rowing) claimed silver and Nazim Babayev (athletics) claimed bronze medals.

Teymur Mammadov became the world champion among juniors in 2015. Although he continues his career, he has no serious results today.

Iqbal Hajizade also continues his career now, but cannot get into the main squad.

Islamabad Dadov is still a member of the national team and will take part in the U23 World Championship.

Jabbar Najafov was injured in 2015 and finished his career the same year.

Leyla Gurbanova became the world champion among juniors in 2015.

She also climbed to the highest level of honor at the Fourth Islamic Solidarity Games "Baku-2017". She continues her career at present.

Boxer Rufat Huseynov won bronze medal in the European Junior Championships in 2015.

In 2016, he won the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Baku. However, Huseynov who lost 1/16 finals in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics left without a medal in another prestigious competition.

Judoka Leyla Aliyeva participated in the First European Games and stopped competing in the 1/8 finals. She is currently in the national team squad.

Natig Gurbanli became the European champion among youth in 2016 and silver medalist of the world championship in 2017.

Taekwondo athlete Said Guliyev still continues his career but cannot be included in the senior squad.

Jeren Ozbek is currently studying in Turkey.

Nazim Babayev, a 3-lane long jumper, won a gold medal in the First European Games Baku 2015, a gold medal in the European Championship in the same year with the result of 17.04 meters in Sweden and also hit a new world record. He also won the gold medal at the Fourth Islamic Solidarity Games Baku 2017. Boris Yotov, a silver medalist in academic rowing, was awarded a medal in Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. The Bulgarian legionary, who left the national team in the same year, is in the squad of the Bulgarian national team since 2017.

Thus, among Azerbaijani athletes who won medals in the first two competitions, powerlifter Nijat Rahimov achieved the highest result in subsequent competitions. He became the champion of the world and Olympic champion among adults. However, Rahimov achieved this success as a member of the national team of Kazakhstan.

Manaf GASIMBEYLI