Afgan Khashalov

Khashalov was born in the village of Yukharı Salahlı in the Qazakh District of Azerbaijan.^[3] He began wrestling in 2010 and trained under Javid Gurbanzade from 2013 onward.^[1] He graduated from the secondary school in his native village.^[4]

At age-group level, Khashalov won the cadet European title in 2014 and the junior world title in 2016. He also won the junior European title in 2017, took silver at the 2018 European U23 Championships, and won bronze at the 2019 U23 World Championships.^[1]

Khashalov is also a multiple-time national champion of Azerbaijan, winning senior national titles in 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2021.^[1]

In 2020, he served in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.^[2][5] According to later interviews, he sustained an injury to his left eye during the war and partially lost vision in that eye.^[6] On 24 June 2021, he was awarded the Medal "For the Liberation of Fuzuli" for bravery shown during combat operations.^[7]

In 2021, Khashalov made his senior breakthrough at the 2021 European Wrestling Championships in Warsaw, where he won bronze at 57 kg. In the bronze-medal bout, he defeated Belarusian wrestler Aryan Tsiutryn.^[2][8]

Later that year, he made his senior world championships debut in Oslo at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships. He beat Roberto Alejandro Blanco of Mexico in the round of 16, but lost in the quarter-finals to Germany's Horst Lehr and finished outside the medals.^[9]

• Afgan Khashalov at United World Wrestling
• Afgan Khashalov at the International Wrestling Database