World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
It had been an incredible day for Italy in the World Judo Championships 2024 Mixed Team event, their initial head to head against the Netherlands went to a decider, and as fate would have it, the -70kg category was selected, meaning the former Dutch judoka, Kim POLLING was battling her…
24 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
The opening round of the World Judo Championships Mixed Team bronze medal contest between Germany and Georgia were the +100kg men. Johannes FREY (GER) stepped up to the plate to take on the current World and Olympic silver medallist, Guram TUSHISHVILI (GEO) but was disqualified for head diving. With this…
24 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
For the European judo fans, we know of the prestige from both teams of France and Georgia, who have shared the European Mixed Team title equally the past four years, with Team France becoming victors in the most recent European Championships. Now in Abu Dhabi on the final day of…
24 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Zelym KOTSOIEV (AZE) left the last two world championships with a bronze medal in his luggage. In Abu Dhabi, the 25-year-old crowned himself only the third judo World champion for his country. Azerbaijan ranks 4th place in the medal table after the end of the individual competitions out of a…
23 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Lukas KRPALEK (CZE/+100) is known as a reliable medal bank. The 33-year-old Czech has collected a total of 45 Seniors medals – most notably 2 Olympic gold medals (in two different weight classes: -100 in Rio, +100 in Tokyo), 5 World Championships medals (2 x gold – 1 x silver…
23 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
It’s been 9 years since Kayra OZDEMIR (TUR/+78) made her World Championships debut in Astana (KAZ) in 2015. She lost in round three back then. On Thursday, in Abu Dhabi (UAE), the 36-year-old Turkish player made her 7th and final appearance at the World Championships. This time Kayra stormed through…
23 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Incredibly, we have reached the end of the fifth and final day of the individual World Judo Championships 2024 in Abu Dhabi. With only one day left for the Mixed Teams, European Judo were keen to see if our athletes could best the seven titles won in Doha in 2023.…
23 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Day five of the World Judo Championships 2024 in Abu Dhabi saw the last of the individual competitors look for the world titles in the -100kg, +78kg and +100kg categories. The defending champion, Arman ADAMIAN (AIN) saw a surprise early exit, but the excitement continued, with double world champions Jorge…
23 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
22nd and final act in the Olympic qualification: Former World champion Anna-Maria WAGNER (-78/GER) had a seemingly comfortable 1,167-point lead before the World Championships in Abu Dhabi. But in round 3, in the fight against Tokyo Olympic champion Shori HAMADA (JPN), everything could have tipped in favour of team-mate Alina…
22 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
The (sporting) disappointments of 2023 have been swallowed and processed. For good. Margaux Pinot, 30, is at the pinnacle of her career. The 13th-ranked player in the world, who is condemned to spectate at her home games in Paris, beat the higher-ranked (Olympic fixed starter) Marie Eve Gahie in an…
22 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
His right eyelid is bloodshot, he hasn’t yet digested his narrow defeat in the final against underdog Goki TAJIMA (JPN/No. 89 in the world rankings). But when Emanja MAJDOV (SRB) starts to talk about his long career as a world-class athlete, he looks happy and content in one fell swoop,…
22 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Day four of the World Judo Championships 2024 in Abu Dhabi welcomed the -70kg, -90kg and -78kg categories. With no defending World Champions present, the end result would be a completely new batch. Following the preliminaries however, three of the six finalists were looking toward a second title win. Marie…
22 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
The women in the -70kg and -78kg category may have played well according to their seeding and ranking, but the -90kg category delivered some of the biggest shocks of the World Judo Championships so far in Abu Dhabi. Many of the front runners were forced to accept early exits this…
22 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Kate CORKERY (AUS) has been President of the Oceania Judo Union and thus also IJF Vice President for about six months. From 2016 to 2021, the lawyer was President of the Australian Judo Federation. “They needed a gender equality and anti-doping specialist. I was initially an advisor, later I became…
22 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
This is what winners look like. “My head hurts and I’m really exhausted. Every one of my fights was tough,” gasps the newly crowned 3-time world champion Tato GRIGALASHVILI (GEO). He was on the mat for five encounters and 20:37 net minutes on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi. The strain is…
21 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
She is finally allowed to sit for a moment, in a tiny room that has been converted from a storeroom into a TV studio: Clarisse Agbegnenou, Olympic and six-time World champion, has a bronze medal hanging around her neck and is smiling. Only her voice gives a hint of her…
21 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
It was only a matter of time before Joanne VAN LIESHOUT, two-time junior world champion and Dutch shooting star, won her first major seniors title.The 21-year-old student has climbed to sixth place in the IJF world rankings in recent months and has long been guaranteed a place at the Olympic…
21 May 2024World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
With only two of the fourteen weight categories competing on day three of the 2024 World Judo Championships in Abu Dhabi, we were in for a somewhat swift final block. The -63kg and -81kg delivered countless surprises in the preliminary rounds, leaving only one of the defending World Champions to…
21 May 2024
World Championships Seniors (Individual+Teams)