Eldaniz Azizli of Azerbaijan defended his men's Greco-Roman 55kg title at the World Wrestling Championships ©Getty Images

Eldaniz Azizli and Rafig Huseynov provided a double for Azerbaijan on the first day of Greco-Roman finals at the World Wrestling Championships in Serbia's capital Belgrade.

Azizli and Huseynov triumphed in the non-Olympic weight categories of 55 kilograms and 82kg respectively at the Štark Arena.

In the lowest weight category, Azizli defended his title with victory in the final for the second year running against Georgia's Nugzari Tsurtsumia.

Azizli had led 13-4 when his opponent was disqualified for receiving a third caution.

Iran's Pouya Dadmarz overcame Kazakhstan's Marlan Mukashev 6-3 and Uzbekistan's Jasurbek Ortikboev beat Moldova's Artiom Deleanu 6-1 to take bronze.

At 82kg, Huseynov edged past Iran's Alireza Mohmadi 2-1 to take gold, with bronzes going to Ukraine's Yaroslav Filchakov after a 1-1 match against Moldova's Mihail Bradu and Aues Gonibov, a Russian athlete competing as an individual neutral who beat Turkey's defending champion Burhan Akbudak 6-3.

In the Olympic weight categories, Kyrgyzstan's Olympic silver medallist Akzhol Makhmudov defended his 77kg title with a narrow victory against Azerbaijan's Sanan Suleymanov, the pair drawing 1-1 in the final.

Their semi-final victories had already assured them of Paris 2024 Olympics qualifying places, and they were joined by Malkhas Amoyan of Armenia who beat Kazakhstan's Demeu Zhadrayev 9-7 and Japan's Nao Kusaka who thrashed Uzbekistan's Aram Vardanyan 8-0 to take bronzes.

Vardanyan took the fifth available Olympic spot with victory in a playoff against Zhadrayev.

Kyrgyzstan's Akzhol Makhmudov, left, defended his men's Greco-Roman 77kg title against Azerbaijan's Sanan Suleymanov, right, but both athletes qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics ©Getty Images
Kyrgyzstan's Akzhol Makhmudov, left, defended his men's Greco-Roman 77kg title against Azerbaijan's Sanan Suleymanov, right, but both athletes qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics ©Getty Images

At 130kg, Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran reversed last year's defeat in the final to Turkey's Rıza Kayaalp by claiming gold 2-2 against the same opponent.

In the bronze medal bouts, Egypt's Abdellatif Mohamed edged Meng Lingzhe of China 3-2 and Cuba's Óscar Pino triumphed 5-1 against Lithuania's Romas Fridrikas.

The four medallists all earned Paris 2024 places, along with Meng who won the playoff against Fridrikas.

Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Kenichiro Fumita of Japan and defending world champion Zholaman Sharshenbekov of Kyrgyzstan earned the first Olympic qualifying berths at 60kg by reaching the final in Belgrade 5-1 against Armenia's Gevorg Gharibyan and 4-3 against Iran's Mehdi Mohsennejad respectively.

Three-time Olympic medallist Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia also has a Paris 2024 place in the 97kg after reaching the final 9-0 against Lithuania's Mindaugas Venckaitis, and is joined by Cuba's Gabriel Rosillo who triumphed 3-0 against Iran's Olympic bronze medallist Mohammad Hadi Saravi.

The other final on the penultimate day of the World Wrestling Championships is set to feature France's Ibrahim Ghanem against Hungary's Róbert Fritsch in the non-Olympic 72kg weight category.