BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 13. Azerbaijani
judoka Gultaj Mammadaliyeva has won a bronze medal at the Grand
Prix tournament in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.
Competing in the under-52 kg weight category, Mammadaliyeva
defeated Croatia’s Tihea Topolovec and Chinese Taipei’s Pin-Hsien
Tseng to reach the quarterfinals.
At this stage, she lost to Hungary’s Róza Györtyás and moved
into the repechage round, where she defeated Kosovo’s Fatjona
Kasapi. In the bronze medal bout, the Azerbaijani judoka overcame
Italy’s Ilaria Finestrone to secure third place.
Another Azerbaijani representative, Nizami Imranov, competing in
the under-66 kg category, also came close to winning a medal. He
defeated France’s Daki Bouba, Italy’s Matteo Piras, and Morocco’s
Abderrahmane Boushita.
However, Imranov lost to Brazil’s Ronaldo Lima in the semifinal.
Due to an injury, he was unable to compete in the bronze medal
match and finished fifth overall.
Two other Azerbaijani judokas were eliminated in their opening
bouts. Turan Bayramov (66 kg) lost to Germany’s Florian Bekeri,
while Murad Muradli (60 kg) was defeated by France’s Luka
Mkheidze.
The Grand Prix tournament in Zagreb will run until November
15.
