Azerbaijan fires men's judo coaching staff after Tokyo 2020 failure

The Azerbaijan Judo Federation (AJF) has separated the coaching staff from its men's national team after a below-average performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. After a meeting chaired by AJF Vice President Sadig Sadigov on Monday (August 2), it was decided to replace the entire coaching staff of the Azerbaijan national judo team, including the Ukrainian head coach and former Olympic bronze medalist. Ruslan Mashurenko and his assistants.

Also present at the meeting were General Secretary Elmar Babanli, Standing Committee Chairman Agayar Akhundzade, Deputy General Secretary Elnur Ashrafoglu and leading senior and junior judokas.

Three-time European champion and current head coach of the junior national judo team Elchin Ismayilov will lead a temporary technical team.

The AJF cited the "failed performance of our men's judo team at the Tokyo Olympics" as the main reason for its decision.

The country won just one medal in judo at the Games: Iryna Kindzerska's bronze in the women's division +78kg.

Azerbaijan had won two silver medals in men's events in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, but the closest it came to Tokyo 2020 was Rustam Orujov's 5th place U73kg, when he was beaten by South Korean An Chang-Rim in the bronze metal dispute.

Kindzerska's bronze at Tokyo 2020 means that Azerbaijan has won five judo medals at the Olympics since it first competed as an independent nation in Atlanta 1996.

The AJF also announced that this year's salaries of its highest-earning judoka would reflect her performance over the past year.