Gabala’s karate challenger Rafael Aghayev, fighting also for the Azerbaijan national team, won a bronze of the 24th World Cup in Madrid, Spain. The 75-kg challenger made his way all through victories on Allan Maldonado (Guatemala) 4:1, Julio Iciki (Argentina) 2:1, Gabor Harspataki (Hungary) 1:0 and Matias Rodriguez (Chile) 6:0 progressing into the semifinal. Then Aghayev lost to Luigi Busa (Italy) - 1:2 before beating Dastonbek Otabolayev (Uzbekistan) by 2:1. This is his eighth medal, as well as first bronze on the canvas following five-time world champion title and two silvers. He’s having also eleven golds from European championships. 

It’s worth to notice Aghayev was among 1147 challengers from 140 countries.