European champion Eljan Hajiyev penalized for disciplinary violation

Eljan Hajiyev, Azerbaijani European champion and world medalist judoka, has been penalized.

This was announced by Richard Trautmann, head coach of the Azerbaijani national team and performance director of the team, in an interview with "Report".

He said that the 23-year-old athlete violated discipline:

"In general, of course, there are certain issues in the work process, and we try to resolve them within the team. Unfortunately, despite repeated warnings, athletes still violate discipline. One of them is Eljan Hajiyev. Despite repeated warnings to Eljan, he did not draw any conclusions from this, and appropriate punishment was applied to him."

R. Trautmann added that E. Hajiyev has great potential:

"He has great potential, he is a European champion, a world medalist. He has won against leading judokas in his weight category in various competitions. However, in order to realize this potential, to become a world and Olympic champion, Eljan must change his approach to work, be more disciplined and professional. I hope that Eljan will also draw appropriate conclusions and make the necessary changes in himself."

It should be reminded that Eljan Hajiyev won a gold medal at the European Championship in 2024. In 2025, he won a bronze medal at the World Championship.

You can read the full version of Richard Trautmann's interview here.