TEHRAN - Iranian judoka Elyas Parhizgar will fight at World Judo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The World Championships are currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Elyas Parhizgar will be on the tatami on Wednesday, as the country’s only representative in the -81kg weight category.
Competing in Group A of this weight class, Parhizgar receives a bye in the first round and will face the winner of the match between the Mongolian and Slovenian judokas in the second round.
Rashad Mammadov, the head coach of the Iranian national judo team, is guiding Elyas Parhizgar during the tournament.
More than 620 judoka from over 90 nations have entered, with two world titles decided each day, starting with U60kg and U48kg and building towards the heavyweights on 10 October. The numbers alone make Baku 2026 one of the deepest championships of the cycle, but the entry list and draw reveal something more important: being seeded will offer protection from the other top-eight seeds, but certainly not from world-class opposition.
The men’s entry is particularly large, with U100kg leading the way at 56 competitors, followed by U73kg with 50 and U90kg with 49. The women’s U63kg field contains 48 athletes, while U70kg and U78kg both have 44. Those numbers mean that even established World Tour athletes can face four or five serious contests simply to reach the medal fights.