The Samurai clinch record successive seventh gold medal in competition in Abu Dhabi
Japan signs off with mixed teams’ gold
Japan rightly signed off with a flurry with a gold medal in the mixed teams’ competition to bring down the curtains on the 37th IJF World Judo Championships – Abu Dhabi 2024, at the Mubadala Arena, late on Friday.
The Japanese team won the gold medal for the seventh time in-a-row as they easily got past France in the final at the Mubadala Arena. The bronze medals went to Georgia and Italy after their victories over Germany and Uzbekistan, respectively.
In attendance for the final day of the competition was Mohammed bin Thaloub Al Darai, Chairman of the Supreme Organizing Committee of the World Judo Championship – Abu Dhabi 2024 and President of the Emirates Judo Federation, who handed over the champions’ trophy to the Japanese team, along with Marius Viser, President of the International Judo Federation.
Considered the jewel in the world championships crown, the mixed team event, had promised to close out the week in typically spectacular fashion.
Going into this event, Japan had won all previous six editions of the mixed teams of the World Judo Championships.
The mixed team event is unique in high-level sport. Each team consisted of three women and three men from each participating nation, each competing in one of six weight categories against their contemporaries in the opposing team.
For the women, the weight categories were -57kg, -70kg and +70kg, and for the men the divisions were -73kg, -90kg and +90kg.
The rules for mixed teams are simple: in each match, the first team to win a majority of the six contests will be declared the winner. In case of a tie at three wins each, one random weight category will be re-drawn and the athletes in that category re-fight under golden score conditions to determine the winner.
The introduction of the mixed event was an important moment in competitive judo history. The mixed element and prestige of the event have since contributed towards equality in the sport, as countries where the sport has traditionally been dominated by men have invested heavily in their women’s programmes so they can be competitive.
The top four teams at the event are seeded, based on their results from the mixed team events at previous world championships, the Olympic Games and the countries’ respective continental championships. A total of 13 teams competed in Abu Dhabi, in descending order, with the top seeds being Japan, France, Georgia and Brazil.
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Japan ends on a high in Abu Dhabi
Tomita ensures yet another world crown for the Samurai with women’s +78kg crown on final day of individual competition
ABU DHABI: Wakaba Tomita claimed the women’s +78kg gold medal to ensure Japan’s reign at the top of the standings at the end of the individual competition of the World Judo Championships – Abu Dhabi 2024, here at the Mubadala Arena, late on Thursday.
Tomita took the +78kg gold defeating Kayra Ozdemir of Turkey to land her first-ever senior world title following up on from her silver medal in 2021, and her junior world title way back in 2015.
Ozdemir’s silver is her best-ever result at a world championships, capping an incredible performance from the gritty 36-year-old. Ozdemir’s teammate Hilal Ozturk took the first bronze medal and Hayun Kim of outh Korea took the second bronze, also her second such medal at a world championships.
Meanwhile, in the tantalizing +100kg category, it was Minjong Kim of South Korea taking top honours while overcoming 2018 world champion Guram Tushishvili of Georgia in the final. Tamerlan Bashaev and Alisher Yusupov of Uzbekistan won the two bronze medals, which were the second world medals for them both.
And Zelym Kotsoiev handed Azerbaijan a historic moment while winning the gold medal in the men’s -100kg with the decisive win against Shady Elnahas of Egypt in what was the final individual medal contested at this competition.
In the final, Kotsoiev struck the decisive blow after the first minute, throwing Elnahas for waza-ari using the unusual hikikomi-gaeshi made famous by the all-Georgian -90 kg final from last year’s world championships.
Though Elnahas dominated the remainder of the contest, forcing the Azeri to pick up two penalties, Kotsoiev held on to take the victory and a deserved first world title. After Hidayat Heydarov’s victory in the -73 kg category at this event, Kotsoiev becomes only the third Azerbaijani world champion in history. Arai Dota of Japan and Nikoloz Sherazadishvili of Spain clinched the two bronze medals.
Meanwhile, Tomita’s gold in the men’s +100kg confirmed the supremacy of Japan in yet another world competition. Travelling without most of its already-qualified judokas, the Samurai ended the one-week competition with 3 golds, 2 silvers and 4 bronzes for a total of nine medals.
Tushishvili’s silver medal ensured a deserving second place for Georgia with 2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze, while Kim’s gold moved the Republic of Korea into third place, ahead of Azerbaijan and Italy, with 2 golds and 3 bronzes.
Overall, this has been an astounding competition with the medals being shared among a remarkable 24 countries, while 40 countries earned at least one top eight finish, highlighting the continued development of the sport worldwide.
Medals Table (Top-10)
Position Country G S B Total
- Japan 3 2 4 9
- Georgia 2 1 1 4
- S. Korea 2 0 3 5
- Azerbaijan 2 0 0 2
- Italy 1 2 0 3
- France 1 1 3 5
- Mongolia 1 0 1 2
- Germany 1 0 1 2
- Netherlands 1 0 0 1
- Canada 0 2 1 3
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Six UAE judokas qualify for Paris 2024
UAE Judo Federation sign agreement with French Judo Federation to develop athletes
ABU DHABI: The UAE can be proud after ensuring that six of their judokas qualified to the summer Olympic Games to be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11.
Nasser Al Tamimi, Secretary General of the UAE Judo Federation, announced that of the six UAE members booking their tickets for France, one is a female and the remaining five are men. The judo competition of the Olympic Games will be held from July 27-August 2.
The UAE had participated in the Abu Dhabi Championships with eight judokas – two women and six men.
Of these, only Khorloodoi Bishrelt booked her place in the women’s -52kg category, while her male teammates in Paris will be Narmandakh Bayanmunkh (-66kg), Nugzari Tatalashvili (-81kg), Aram Grigorian (-90kg), Dzhafar Kostoev (-100kg) and Magomedomar Magomedomar (+100kg) at the Games later this summer.
Al Tamimi confirmed that the UAE Judo Federation, headed by Mohammed bin Thaloub Al Darei and members of the Board of Directors, were faced with two options – either reduce the burden of external participation and focus on the World Championships or increase participation in order to gain points in the classification and raise the number of participants at the Olympic Games.
“We chose the second option and gave full confidence to the technical staff, so that the goal was achieved by 90 per cent, with the success of six out of seven players chosen to qualify for the Games. The federation is seeking medals at the next Olympic Games, and this may perhaps be the reason why the UAE did not win any medals this time. Perhaps, what is most notable is that the best 18 players in the international classification qualify directly in each category for the Olympics, and all of our qualified players are currently within this classification,” Al Tamimi noted.
The UAE squad will now take a much-needed one week break before commencing their preparations for Paris 2024. “We will start with our fitness programme over three weekes in a high-altitude location in Georgia in early June, after which we will head to Barcelona to participate in a warm-up judo competition camp there before heading to Paris,” Al Tamimi related.
Al Tamimi announced the opening of the new judo hall in Bani Yas, which will also house the judo federation’s headquarters, immediately after the current World Judo Championship. “We will be launching a series of activities starting with a community summer camp during July and August,” he said.
Al Tamimi also praised the organizing committee for putting the current World Championship in order within a matter of five months. “An event of this magnitude would need at least two years to prepare. But with a fantastic team like this one at the UAE Judo Federation, we know the capabilities we have in ensuring the success of any event that may be handed over to us in the future as well,” he added.
Al Tamimi stressed that the World Championships are stronger than an Olympic Games at all levels, whether technically or in terms of the names of the players participating in the tournament.
“For example, a judoka needs to go through at least five bouts to win a medal and be crowned champion at a world championship, while at an Olympics, he is required to fight just four times. How stiff the competition was at this event is seen by the fact that just one judoka was able to retain his world title.
“In contrast, the current competition witnessed a record participation of more than 650 athletes from 107 nations. During the Olympics there are several world champions in the fray and anyone can be crowned an Olympic champion,” Al Tamimi stressed.
Al Tamimi reiterated the federation’s strategy of organizing major tournaments while ensuring judo is on the top list of sports in the UAE, even in terms of results at the continental and international levels.
“As an Olympic sport, judo is by far the best in the Emirates and it is our aim to maintain this position. In fact, we want to spread the sport to all age groups, by communicating and engaging directly with schools and the community. Following a survey some five years back, we have come a long way. There were just two judo clubs in the country, and now we have four clubs in Abu Dhabi alone, along with five clubs in Dubai, in addition to several government clubs and school centres,” Al Tamimi disclosed.
“We also held a meeting with the French Judo Federation and signed an agreement of cooperation in further spreading the game throughout the UAE. This is perhaps among the few countries having more than one million registered judokas. The idea now is to spread the sport of judo even more and make it a tradition in the UAE,” Al Tamimi stressed.
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Wide media coverage for event
ABU DHABI: More than 200 media professionals from 130 countries from around the world gave exposure to the World Judo Championships – Abu Dhabi 2024.
The Media Committee of the International Judo Federation reviewed the exceptional numbers achieved by the current edition of the World Judo Championship in Abu Dhabi, with the presence of more than 200 media professionals from outside the country to cover the competitions, and broadcast these competitions, whether directly or via summaries, in 130 different countries.
The official website of the IJF also showed a steady increase in the number of regular visitors to the site and through various social media platforms. Visitors were keen to keep themselves updated on the results, meetings and other activities happening along the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi competition.
Many prominent news agencies and world-famous websites have been involved in reporting extensively on the competition in various languages, including English, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Arabic.
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