The Paralympic judo champion was declared sighted and received a lifetime ban.

Azerbaijani judoka Shahana Hajiyeva, who became a champion at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was recognized as fully sighted and received a lifetime ban from participating in competitions for athletes with visual impairment. This was reported by Sputnik Azerbaijan radio on May 13.

As specified, Gadzhieva did not pass the mandatory medical examination for judoka with partial visual impairment in the J2 category (up to 52 kg). During the examination, it turned out that the athlete does not have any visual limitations, contrary to what was previously stated.

The National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Azerbaijan explained that the former categories B1, B2 and B3 were combined into new ones — J1 and J2. As a result of the reform, a number of diagnoses were excluded from the acceptable ones for participation in J2, and some athletes who had previously been in this category lost the right to perform.

Earlier, on March 27, the anti-doping tribunal of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) annulled the results of Russian Nikolay Polukhin at the Sochi Paralympics due to violations of anti-doping rules. The charges arose as a result of IPC investigations into evidence provided by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).