This week the IJF World Tour is heading south of the equator to Abu Dhabi for the first Grand Slam event in this new cycle. Already we were spoiled with fantastic judo in the Zagreb Grand Prix, the best junior athletes came together most recently for the World Championships in Tajikistan, and now the seniors will go head to head for the big points, and after supporting their younger team mates from the tribunes, Obid DZHEBOV (-66kg) and Behruzi KHOJAZODA (-73kg) will be among team Tajikistan.
With many big names, we can already expect great things from this event, and a nice surprise coming from the hosts; Makhmadbek MAKHMADBEKOV is now competing for the United Arab Emirates in the -73kg category. Though it is his first event under the UAE flag, Makhmadbekov can already boast of five IJF World Tour gold medals, ten in total, and will be an extremely valuable member of the team. He also joins the likes of Nugzari TATALASHVILI and Narmandakh BAYANMUNKH as some of the highest ranked in the team, the pair sitting at #17 and #26 in the world ranking list, Makhmadbekov at #9.
Among the other highest ranked we see Tamerlan BASHAEV (IJF) in the +100kg category, it will be a straight return to Abu Dhabi as that was his last international performance in the World Championships this year where he took the bronze medal. In the -60kg category, Balabay AGHAYEV (AZE) will be the number one seed, and team mate, Zelim TCKAEV will take the top spot in -81kg. Senior European silver medallist, Danil LAVRENTEV has proven to be an extremely tough opponent in the -73kg category, the number one seed also claimed two Grand Slam silver medals in 2024, in Tashkent and Astana, and at only 21 year old he is making great headway in this very talented category.
Continuing their climb and looking to breach the top 30 following the Zagreb Grand Prix, we have SAFRANY Peter (HUN) in the -90kg category, Rhys THOMPSON (GBR) in -100kg and Victor STERPU (MDA) in -81kg.
There are also plenty of athletes newer to the IJF World Judo Tour who are stepping from the continental open level to test the waters and find where they stand amongst some of the best in the world; Leonardo VALERIANI (ITA) is currently #185 in the WRL at -73kg but secured the gold medal in the Prague European Open. Adrian SULCA (ROU) has been battling past injury and in to a new weight category, following great success as an -73kg athlete, the -81kg has proven a great challenge, but a good performance in Prague has him in good stead and he will be the #8 seed in Abu Dhabi. Same can be said for the Prague gold medallist in the -90kg category; Jesper SMINK (NED) who is seeded #5 on this occasion.
Completely unseeded and unranked in the -100kg, who will undoubtedly cause early upset is Olympic medallist, TOTH Krisztian (HUN) who is venturing in to the next weight category in the UAE.
The live draw will take place on Thursday 10th October at 14:00 local time, all can be found at JudoTV.com!
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen