Azerbaijani wrestler advances to the final of the World Championship in Bratislava

Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler Haji Karimov has advanced to the final of the U-20 World Championship being held in the Slovak capital Bratislava.

As reported by the Wrestling Federation of Azerbaijan, the athlete competing in the up to 70 kg weight category earned his spot in the decisive stage on the seventh day of the competition.

In his opening bout, Karimov defeated India's Sumit Baraskar 5:1, and then overcame North Macedonia's Muhamed Veseli 11:2.

In the quarterfinal, the Azerbaijani wrestler defeated Armenia's Davit Davtyan 12:0, and in the semifinal proved stronger than Egypt's Mohamed Ahmed 9:2.

In the final, Haji Karimov will face Iran's Sina Mehdi Khalili.

Another representative of Azerbaijan, Yusif Dursunov (125 kg), defeated Japan's Hosei Fujita 11:1 and India's Ronak Ronak 3:2, advancing to the semifinal. However, one step away from the final, he lost to American Dreshon Ross 1:4 and will now compete for the bronze medal.

Ismail Rahimli (74 kg) lost in the qualification round to Uzbekistan's Farrukhbek Jumanazarov 2:4.

Farhad Sulaymanli (97 kg) scored an early victory over Hungary's Robert Erdei 11:0, but in the quarterfinal lost to Belarusian wrestler Azamat Tsarikayev 8:19.