Three Azerbaijani judokas inducted into IJF Hall of Fame - LIST

Baku. 19 September. REPORT.AZ/ The International Judo Federation (IJF) organized a gala dinner ahead of the World Judo Championship in Baku

19 luminaries were inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame at a gala dinner at the Buta Palace in Baku.

At the event held with participation of judo legends, IJF President Marius Vizer thanked President of the Azerbaijan Judo Federation Rovnag Abdullayev for organizing and hospitality at the event: "Tonight we will celebrate special champions, special moments and special people. We have a very important Gender Equity Conference on Wednesday, a first for the IJF, which I hope you can all take part in following the draw at the Hilton Baku. I wish everyone a wonderful evening, a great World Championships and all the best to all of you.”

President of Azerbaijan Judo Federation Mr. Rovnag Abdullayev said: “Good evening everyone, I wish you a warm welcome to Baku. It’s a great honor to host the judo family and all of our guests here in Azerbaijan for our first World Judo Championships.

“I would like to thank IJF President Mr. Marius Vizer for this opportunity and I hope you all have a wonderful stay in Baku and an excellent competition."

The first awards of the evening  were inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame by IJF President Mr. Marius L. Vizer and Azerbaijan Judo Federation President Mr. Rovnag Abdullayev.

Three Azerbaijani judokas including the winner of the Summer Olympics in 1992, Nazim Huseynov, gold medalist of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, Elnur Mammadli, also Ilham Zekiev, the winner of the Summer Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 were inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame.

In addition, Antal Kovacs, the first Hungarian judoka to win the Olympic Games and World Judo Championships, Hitoshi Saito who passed away in 2015, the first Japanese judoka to become a double Olympic gold medallist were inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame.

The list also includes Japanese Ayumi Tanimoto, Chinese Xian Dongmei, Sun-Hui Kye (DPR), Min-Sun Cho (KOR), Anis Lounifi (TUN), Hesham Mesbah (EGY), Amar Benikhlef (ALG), Nicolas Gill (CAN), Jimmy Pedro (USA), Rusty Kanokogi (USA), Ronaldo Veitia (CUB), Mark Huizinga (NED), Jane Bridge (GBR), Felice Mariani (ITA)

The stage was set for a number of extra awards recognizing fair play which were awarded by the president of International Fair Play Committee Jeno Kamuti.

A World Fair Play Diploma was presented to Dr. Kazim Gedik to recognise his ‘Sports Career and Life in the Spirit of Fair Play’. The second World Fair Play Diploma was awarded to Altinboynuz Sports Club to recognise an ‘Act of Fair Play. The Willi Daume World Fair Play Trophy award for promotion was awarded to Panathlon Club Wallonie-Bruxelles (BEL).

World-renowned Al Bano, Russian Ksenia Buzina, Azerbaijani Samra Rahimli, Romanian Marcel Pavel and Hungarian Szocs Renata performed at the event.

Notably, the world championship will be held on September 20 - 27 at the National Gymnastics Arena.