Azerbaijani karate athletes went to the first competitions of 2015. The National Team, consisting of cadets and juniors, will take part in the Grand Prix tournament in Croatia.
With the support of the General Sponsor - the International Bank of Azerbaijan, the delegation of 25 persons went to the tournament, which will be held January 17-18 in Samobor. Senior coach of the junior team in the age group 14-15 years, honored coach Anar Abdullayev chose the following athletes: Gummat Bakhshaliyev (-52 kg), Riyad Feyzizade (-63 kg), Murad Balakishiev (-70 kg), Murad Hajizadeh (+70 kg), Fidan Teymurova (-47 kg), Basti Ismailova (+54 kg) and Renata Arabli (+54 kg).
Senior coach in the age group 16-17 years, honored coach Shahin Khudaverdiev gave preference to Mirdjalal Aleskerov (-55 kg), Ulvi Gurbanly (- 61 kg), Huseyn Aliyev (-68 kg), Isa Mammadov (-76 kg), Veli Veliyev (+76 kg), Shole Gasanova (-48 kg), Aytaj Aliyeva (-53 kg), Farida Aliyeva (+59 kg). Senior kata coach Vahid Ayvazov hopes for achievement of high results by Hasan Rustamov and Sevinj Mehdieva (-50 kg) and Aytan Semedli (-68 kg) in the age group 18-20 years.
Among the arbitrators serving prestigious competitions will also be an international referee Vugar Kerimov, as well as judges of national category Javid Rafiev and Mais Madatov. We would like to note that our referees of national category, which showed high achievements last year, for the first time go to the international competition to improve their skills.
Representatives of 204 clubs from 21 countries, including 1,732 karate athletes of all ages will compete for medals in Croatian Grand Prix. 1238 athletes will enter the battle for medals in individual kumite events, 437 karate athletes in individual kata events, 16 karatekas will measure with opponents in kata individual events among athletes with physical disabilities, 41 teams will compete in the team kata competition. Performances of our athletes will be online broadcasted on the official website of the federation.
Azerbaijani karatekas who went to Croatia on January 15, will return home after 6 days. The delegation was headed by Secretary General of the National Karate Federation Mirdjabbar Seyidov.
International tournament is qualifying to the European Championship in nature, which will be held in early February in Zurich, Switzerland.
