A paralimpic champion at Judo, suspended for life after dropping a classification test for the blind

Shahana Hajiyeva, a Judoka from Azerbaijan who took gold 4 years ago, at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, was suspended after she discovered that she has no vision problems that fit her in one of the two categories for the blind.

Shahana Hajiyeva, defended by the Paralympic Committee in Azerbaijan

The 24 -year -old athlete was suspended for life from the paralimal competitions, while Elnara Nizamli, her colleague, was moved from category J1 in category J2, for people with partial vision.

The Azerbaijan Paralympic Committee provided an explanation for the results of the two athletes, motivating that the change of categories of classification of the blind has led to a situation where certain athletes with vision problems can no longer be in any category.

“The categories B1, B2 and B3, to which the para-Judo competitions from the Tokyo 2021 summer games were held, were reduced to the Paris 2024 Olympics and combined into two categories, J1 and J2. As a result of these changes, many ophthalmological diagnoses were excluded from the list of diseases J2.

For this reason, the International Sports Federation for the Writing Retimped Para Judoka at our medical classification. Despite the fact that Shahana Hajiyeva, the winner of Tokyo 2021, represented our country in Para-Judo, in category J2, until 2024, because of these changes, it became clear that it will no longer be able to compete in Para-Judo”, The Paralympic Committee from Azerbaijan, quoted by Azrisport.com, said.

In addition to the gold medal at the Paralympic Games, Hajiyeva also has a title at the European Championships in 2023.