The Grand Prix in Qingdao (China), which concluded over the weekend, gave the Azerbaijani national team coaching staff, led by Richard Trautmann, a lot to think about, as the performances of our athletes on the Chinese tatami left a mixed impression.
Let’s start with the -60 kg category, where, to my surprise, one could once again see Balabay Aghayev, who, less than two weeks ago, won the Grand Slam in Mongolia, as well as Ahmad Yusifov, who had to settle for fifth place at that tournament. And here they were thrown into action again, with Aghayev losing in the second round to Olympic champion Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan. Ahmad, in turn, performed better, stumbling only against Hayato Kondo (Japan) and ultimately winning a bronze medal.
Why our coaches brought Aghayev to China remains a mystery to me, as he is far from being Teddy Riner to win everywhere all the time, and not even Hidayat Heydarov, who has the mindset of a programmed winner.
By the way, regarding Heydarov, another decision by the coaching staff turned out to be unusual: after his success in Mongolia, he was not dropped from the national team and was not even forced to cut weight; instead, he was simply moved up a weight category — from 73 kg to 81 kg.
It is noteworthy that something similar had already been done with Heydarov before the Tokyo Olympics. However, firstly, that was a forced measure, as he was losing internal competition to Rustam Orujov, and secondly, he was already experiencing issues with excess weight at the time. It is no secret that Heydarov’s “working weight” over the past 5–6 years has been 82–84 kg, and each time he has had to make enormous efforts to cut an extra 10–12 kg.
That earlier reshuffle did not bring positive results: Heydarov was unable to perform in that weight category and even failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
And now — attempt number two. One can only hope it will be more successful, although in this case, we risk losing Zelim Tckaev — the undisputed number one in this weight category in our national team at present. Although Tckaev is no stranger to such situations, as he once beat out the legendary Saeid Mollaei in competition, just before the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In China, this internal rivalry apparently only further motivated Zelim, and he went on to win the tournament, defeating Austrian Bernd Fasching in the final, the same athlete to whom Heydarov lost in the semifinal. As a result, there were two Azerbaijani judokas on the podium in this weight category: Tskaev took gold, Heydarov — bronze. Had the latter been a bit quicker and more alert, we could have witnessed an all-Azerbaijani final.
Rashid Mammadaliyev, still competing in the -73 kg category, once again, as in Mongolia, failed to make any real impact and finished far from the podium. In the -66 kg division, there was complete disappointment: Ruslan Pashayev, on whom so much hope has recently been placed, ended up only fifth. Meanwhile, Tofig Mammadov, after losing his opening bout, showed that he is not yet ready for major challenges or a solid place in the senior national team.
At the same time, Murad Fatiyev appears to have fully adapted to the -90 kg category, as his occasional successes suggest: this time, he took bronze, which can also be seen as a positive result. The same cannot be said about Aslan Kotsoiev, who once again lost his opening match and continues to remain known mainly as “Zelym Kotsoiev’s brother,” lacking any significant senior-level titles in judo.
The heavyweights were once again disappointing. Ushangi Kokauri, who skipped the Mongolian tournament, lost in his opening bout, albeit to the strong Russian judoka Tamerlan Bashaev. Jamal Gamzatkhanov performed slightly better, finishing fifth after losing the bronze medal contest to two-time Olympic champion Lukáš Krpálek of the Czech Republic.
Thus, our male judokas won four medals and finished the Grand Prix third in the medal standings, behind Japan and Russia.
As for the women’s team, there is a sense of déjà vu — repeated early exits from competition time after time. This time, Konul Aliyeva (48 kg), Fidan Alizade (63 kg), and Leyla Aliyeva (52 kg) all exited early. Sudaba Aghayeva (70 kg), for unknown reasons, did not step onto the tatami at all.
Gultaj Mammadaliyeva showed a bit of fight, finishing fifth, but all of this is far from what Amina Abdellatif was brought in from France for. Unfortunately, the French specialist has not yet lived up to expectations, and the isolated successes of individual Azerbaijani female judokas are not turning into a system — which is precisely why she was appointed in Azerbaijan.
Isn’t that right, gentlemen?
By Vugar Vugarly, specially for Caliber.Az
