A strong start to the competition "Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Judo" In Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI, 28 November / WAM / The activities of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Judo Championship 2025 kicked off today at the Mubadala Arena, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Al Ain Region, with the participation of 373 male and female athletes from 52 countries.
The opening round witnessed the loss of the Kosovar champion and world number one in the 52 kg category, Destrija Krasniqi, to her Hungarian counterpart, Rika Pop, to ensure her qualification to the final rounds.
The preliminary round competitions for the light weight category under 60 kg resulted in the victory of Simon Constantine, a player of our national team, over the champion of Kazakhstan, Shamshadin, and over the German Hydra, before he suffered two losses to the Russian Ayoub Lev, and in the consolation play-off against the Belgian Verastraten.
Our national team player Narmand Bayan also lost in the preliminary round of the under-66 kg competition to the Russian champion Murad Chuvayanov, and the player Bashirat Khourudi was defeated in the under-52 kg weight by the Dutch champion Kravel.
In the under-66 kg competition, our national team player Saqr Al-Otaibi lost to the German Nicholas, and his teammate Hamid Matlai also lost to the Azerbaijani champion Ruslan.
Tomorrow, the tournament will resume with the light-medium competition, during which our team will compete in 5 fights in the preliminary round in the men’s category, for Karim Abdul Latif, Muhammad Yazbek, and Naji Yazbek in the (under 73 kg) competitions, and Talal Shafeli and Omar Murad will play in the under 81 kg weight category.
The opening ceremony was attended by His Excellency Jabr Muhammad Ghanem Al Suwaidi, Minister of State, His Excellency Muhammad bin Thaloub Al Darei, President of the Emirates Judo Federation and Chairman of the Supreme Organizing Committee, His Excellency Marius Weiser, President of the International Federation, and Obaid Al-Anazi, Vice President of the International Federation and President of the Kuwaiti Federation, in addition to a number of members of the International Federation and heads of federations.
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