Rio 2016: six national athletes to compete today

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani athletes continues to fight hard to win the best title in the Rio Olympic.

On Wednesday six national athletes will compete for medals. Three of them will debut in the Olympics, while other three will continue their struggle.

On the sixth day of the Olympics other six Azerbaijani athletes will show their performance.

Judoka Mammadali Mehdiyev (90kg), swimmers Fatima Alkaramova (100 meters freestyle) and Boris Kirilov (200 meters backstroke) will compete for the first time in this significant event.

Boxer Abdulgadir Abdullayev (91kg) in 1/4 final, kanoe slalom Yuri Meglich in semi-final and male gymnast Oleg Stepko in all-around finals will test their skills. 

Meanwhile, the headquarters of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Olympic Village in Rio hosted an awarding ceremony of national judokas Rustam Orujov and Orkhan Safarov, who were included in judo top eight at the Summer Olympic Games 2016.

The ceremony was attended by the head of the Azerbaijani delegation Ilham Madatov, judokas and coaches.

Madatov thanked Rustam Orujov, who won Azerbaijan’s first silver medal for the national team in Rio. He said that Rustam’s victory will be an impetus for other athletes.

Rustam won a silver medal in the men’s 73kg judo at the Olympics. At finals he lost to Japan's Shohei Ono, who scored the maximum ippon with an inner leg reap. The bronze medals went to Lasha Shavdatuashvili of Georgia and Belgian Dirk Van Tichelt

Following his speech, Madatov presented certificates signed by the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach and Chairman of the Organizing Committee Rio 2016 Carlos Nuzman to Orujov and Safarov.