Olympic champions head to Grand Slam

The Azerbaijani judo squad for the upcoming Grand Slam tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, has been finalized.

Offsideplus.az reports that, according to the International Judo Federation (IJF) calendar, the competition will take place from February 27 to March 1.

Azerbaijan will be represented by 19 judokas (12 men and 7 women) competing across 12 weight categories. The men's team will be led by head coach Richard Trautmann and senior coaches Elchin Ismayilov and Robert Krawczyk. The women's national team will compete under the guidance of head coach Amina Abdellatif and coach Imarverdi Mammadov.

A total of 380 athletes (213 men and 167 women) from 40 countries will compete in the three-day event. Among the officials for this World Tour series event is Azerbaijani "A" category international referee Nazim Umbayev.

The Squad:

Men:

60 kg: Ahmad Yusifov, Balabay Aghayev

66 kg: Nizami Imranov, Turan Bayramov

73 kg: Kamran Suleymanov, Hidayat Heydarov

81 kg: Omar Rajabli

90 kg: Murad Fatiyev

100 kg: Zelim Kotsoiev, Ajdar Baghirov

+100 kg: Jamal Gamzatkhanov, Kanan Nasibov

Women:

48 kg: Konul Aliyeva, Shafag Hamidova

52 kg: Aydan Valiyeva, Leyla Aliyeva