JUDO – BAHRAIN’S Sukhrob Boqiev bagged the men’s under-66kg gold medal in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2026, held in the UAE capital.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) event featured nearly 400 elite judokas representing 59 countries from six continents.
Boqiev secured his title after defeating Iago Abuladze from Russia in their weight category’s final. Earlier, Boqiev beat Dilshodbek Hamroyev from Uzbekistan in the semis, while Abuladze won against Iskandar Mahmadkhojazoda from Tajikistan.
Mahmadkhojazoda and Rashad Yelkiyev from Azerbaijan shared the bronze medals after winning their respective classification matches in the repechage round.
Previously in the competition, Boqiev secured his place in the last four after winning Pool A in the preliminary stage.
He secured three successive victories in the division, first against Vadym Chernov from Ukraine and then against Kelvin Ray from France. Boqiev then ousted Ruslan Pashayev from Azerbaijan to complete his sweep and move on to the medal rounds.
Boqiev was one of two Bahraini judokas competing in the Abu Dhabi event, which was a top-tier competition in this year’s IJF calendar. Gadzhidavud Gasanov was the other in the men’s under-81kg division.
Gasanov bowed out in the preliminary phase after losing his third match in Pool B. He opened his medal bid with back-to-back victories against Vincenzo Pelligra from Italy and Dominic Rodriguez from the US, but then lost to Igor Tsurkan from Slovenia, who went on to win the group and late one of the two bronze medals, along with Dimitri Gochilaidze from Georgia.
Petru Pelivan from Macedonia captured gold while Eetu Ihanamakai from Finland won silver.
With Boqiev’s gold medal, Bahrain ranked sixth so far amongst the 30 nations that have medalled so far in this year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, which is scheduled to conclude today. The nationals are also the top Arab team.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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