Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. Z.Safarov / The Azerbaijani Judo Federation appealed to the International Judo Federation (IJF) to soften the terms of punishment for Nijad Shakhalizadeh. Doping was revealed after Shikhalizadeh's blood test conducted in Minsk.
Agayar Akhundzadeh, the coach of the Azerbaijani collective team, said that Shikhalizadeh did not use the drug listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Shikhalizadeh himself denies using the drug.