The Judo Grand Prix has kicked off today in Qingdao, China.

Offsideplus.az reports that 8 judokas represented Azerbaijan on the opening day of the tournament, with Ahmad Yusifov securing a podium finish.

60 kg: Ahmad Yusifov clinched the bronze medal. On his way, he defeated Dilshot Khalmatov (Ukraine) and Yulin Ma (China), before falling to Hayato Kondo (Japan) in the quarterfinals. In the repechage, he overcame David Starkel (Slovakia) and went on to defeat Enzo Jean (France) in the bronze medal match. Balabay Aghayev won his opening bout against Artem Lisyuk (Ukraine) but was eliminated in the round of 16 by Yeldos Smetov (Kazakhstan).

66 kg: Ruslan Pashayev finished fifth, just missing out on a medal. After defeating Ziyan Xue (China) and Alexis Renard (France), he lost to Gusman Kyrgyzbayev (Kazakhstan) in the quarterfinals. He won his repechage match against Abdullah Partiev (Russia) but suffered a defeat against Kelvin Rey (France) in the bronze medal contest. Meanwhile, Tofig Mammadov was eliminated in his opening bout by Lin Chen (China).

48 kg: Konul Aliyeva lost her opening match to Jana Cid Balcells (Spain). Shafag Hamidova defeated Abiba Abuzhakynova (Kazakhstan) in her first bout but was subsequently knocked out by Hongyan Xie (China).

52 kg: Gultaj Mammadaliyeva also placed fifth. She secured consecutive wins over Kinga Klimczak (Poland), Gefen Primo (Israel), and Ayumi Leiva Sanchez (Spain). However, she lost her semifinal clash against Mascha Ballhaus (Germany) and was later defeated by Larissa Pimenta (Brazil) in the bronze medal match. Leyla Aliyeva exited the tournament after a first-round loss to Aleksandra Kaleta (Poland).

The tournament, which runs until June 28, features 500 athletes from 57 countries. Grand Prix winners earn 700 ranking points, while silver and bronze medalists receive 490 and 350 points, respectively.