Abu Dhabi: UAE’s Olympic bronze medallist Sergiu Toma will be leading UAE’s challenge in the 81kg category at the Judo Grand Slam Abu Dhabi that gets underway at the IPIC Arena from Friday.

In all 200 judoka’s from 34 countries are participating in the tournament and a total prize money of $154,000 (Dh564,652) up for grabs.

Toma, who had settled for the silver in this event last year, has been pitted against Rafael Macedo of Brazil in round one.

UAE’s Victor Scvotov has been pitted against Luis Carmo of Portugal in the 73kg category. Khalifa Al Hosani will lock horns with Kazakistan’s Azamat Mukanov in the round one of the 66kg category while Mihail Marchitan will be taking on Tural Safuliyev of Azerbaijan.

“The number of entries is a little bit less compared to last year because after the Olympics Games, most of the teams take a minimum of two or three months break and the season starts after that.

“But for the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, this number is very big, because we have seen in other competitions like the Grand Prix held after the Olympics the participation was very less. We are lucky we have good numbers,” said Naser Al Tamimi, general secretary of UAE’s Judo and Kick Boxing Federation, who was confident the UAE would at least win two golds in this tournament in front of home fans.

“Our team is ready and their preparations have been very good for the last month. Toma is ready to fight for the gold and Victor in the 73kg is also ready. We have three new ladies who are going to participate in this competition. We are trying to increase the number of ladies participation in judo and this will be a good step,” added Al Tamimi.

Leading UAE’s medal hopes in the women’s category will be Sara Eisa, Amna Atiq and Reem Abdouli. Eisa will meet Great Britain’s Chelsie Giles in the 52kg category. Atiq will face Germany’s Giovanna Scoccimarro in the 70kg while Abdouli starts her pursuit for a medal in the 78kg category against Brigitte Rose of the Seychelles.

UAE women’s Tunisian coach Schadlia Ghelis was upbeat about her wards’ chances. “The girls have made tremendous progress and it is great to see them trying to do their best. They have been training hard and have won laurels at the Super Cup last year. Sara has a gold while Amna and Reem have silvers. I expect a podium finish for all three of them,” she added.