National freestyle wrestlers win six medals in North Macedonia [PHOTOS]

Azerbaijani freestyle wrestlers have won six medals at the U17
European Wrestling Championships in Skopje, North Macedonia,
Azernews reports.

Said Pashayev (92 kg) faced Russian Abdurazak Shabanov in the
decisive bout.

In a fierce and exciting match, Pashayev secured victory with a
score of 6:5 and once again became the European champion. Notably,
last year Said Pashayev was the best in Greco-Roman wrestling on
the continent, and now he has repeated that success in freestyle as
well.

Hasan Hasanov (60 kg) narrowly lost to Ukrainian Zorab Aloev in
the final with a minimal score of 4:5, earning a silver medal.

Ramal Mirgusainov (51 kg) barely defeated Turkish Bughru Kava in
the consolation match with a scoreof 2:1. He demonstrated his
strength in the third-place match against Armenian Vaan Azaryan,
winning 10:6.

Thus, the Azerbaijani national team concluded the European
Championship with three gold, one silver, and two bronze
medals.

Recall that the previous day, Ravan Gasanizade (48 kg) and
Ruslan Alizade (55 kg) became champions, while Hakim Taghiyev (110
kg) took bronze.

Wrestling remains the most popular sport in the country and is
overseen by the National Wrestling Federation, which was
established in 1993.

The Rio Games opened a new page in wrestling for Azerbaijan. The
country became one of only two nations ever to increase the number
of medals achieved in five consecutive games.

In 2020, Azerbaijani freestyle wrestlers finished third in the
overall medal table of the Individual World Cup in Serbia.

National wrestlers won two medals, including silver and bronze.
Russia topped the medal table, followed by Turkiye.

In 2022, Azerbaijani wrestler Osman Nurmagomedov (92 kg) was
crowned the World Champion in Belgrade.

Nurmagomedov became the World Champion after defeating the
Russian wrestler in the final.

At 2024 Summer Olympic, Greco-Roman wrestler Hasrat Jafarov (67
kg), freestyle wrestlers Giorgi Meshvildishvili (125 kg) and
Magomedkhan Magomedov (97 kg) won bronze medals for Azerbaijan.