Rafael Aghayev goes after his 10th European title

the champion

The most amazing kumite player of all times, Azerbaijan’s Rafael Aghyev won his 10th gold medal at the European Championships and once again succeeded to defend his title.
In the final match he met with Turkey’s Erman Eltemur, for whom this is the first European medal in senior category. The match finished with 3:0 score in Rafael’s favor, although the fight was tensed. To add some more interesting statistics about Aghayev reaching his 10th title at the European Championships, we will highlight the fact that he won all his matches without losing a point in his fights against Andorra’s Sergi Herver (5:0), Austria’s Stefan Pokorny (4:0), Hungary’s Gabor Harspataki (1:0), France’s Logan da Costa (6:0) and in the end against Eltemur
Till the final, Eltemur defetead Bulgaria’s Stefan Petkov (7:1), Slovenia’s Ardit Rusiti (2:0), Macedonia’s Enes Smailagic (2:0) and Rene Smaal (1:0) of Netherlands.
In the bronze medal matches, Smaal was successful over Petkov, while da Costa once again managed to defeat the U21 World champion Harspataki, just as he did at the last year’s Championship in the repechage.
In our POLL about the -75 kg final, 92% of total 285 voters predicted Aghayev will win his 12th final in senior career.

The greatest of world karate, Azerbaijan’s Rafael Aghayev continues to dominate and stays in top of European karate. In tomorrow’s final he is going after his 10th European gold medal. Turkish champion Erman Eltemur is standing on his way, for whom this will be the first European final in senior categories.

Aghayev reached his 12th final at the European Championships without losing a point in his fights against Andorra’s Sergi Herver (5:0), Austria’s Stefan Pokorny (4:0), Hungary’s Gabor Harspataki (1:0) and France’s Logan da Costa (6:0). On the other side of the pool, Eltemur defetead Bulgaria’s Stefan Petkov (7:1), Slovenia’s Ardit Rusiti (2:0), Macedonia’s Enes Smailagic (2:0) and Rene Smaal (1:0) of Netherlands.
For the bronze, Smaal will fight against Petkov, while da Costa will meet the U21 World champion Harspataki, who he defetead at the last year’s Championship in the repechage.
Due to most recent encounters between Aghayev and Eltemur, it will be a tense fight. Aghayev was successful against Eltemur at the last European Championship in Istanbul in front of the Turkish crowd, where he defetead him with 7:0 score in the semifinal, while less than three months later Eltemur was successful in front of the Azerbaijan’s crowd at the 1st European Games, where he beated Aghayev with 5:3 score in elimination round.

Who is going to win in Male Kumite -75 kg finals?

Rafael Aghayev [AZE] (92%, 261 Votes)