Silver for UAE’s Toma, Korea top medals tally
‘I feel in a very good condition and I’m pleased with what I have achieved today’
Abu Dhabi: Moldova-born UAE judoka Sergiu Toma emerged as the lone medallist for the hosts when he bagged silver at the Grand Slam 2015 Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam that concluded here at the IPIC Arena on Sunday.
Toma, having reached the final as the third seed, was favourite to clinch the gold but was stunned by Bulgarian Ivaylo Ivanov. With this victory, Ivanov also got into the record books as it was his country’s first-ever Grand Slam gold.
In the final medal fight, Tashkent Grand Prix winner Toma was penalised with shido for passivity and then again for the same offence at the halfway point before his opponent Ivanov won off a waza-ari. Ivanov received a shido for a false attack before Toma was penalised for passivity with 90 seconds left, but it was a second waza-ari that ultimately got the Bulgarian the gold.
Out of the 14 gold medals that were up for grabs, Korea bagged four to top the table. Russia were second (2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze) followed by France (2-0-2), Netherlands (1-3-2), Germany (1-2-3), Mongolia (1-1-0), Georgia (1-0-1), and Bulgaria (1-0-0).
The event also saw the re-emergence of Olympic champions Tagir Khaibulaev of Russia whose has come into form in time for the Rio Olympics. This was Khaibulaev’s second gold medal since London 2012 and his first Grand Slam title as he won four of his six fights by ippon. In the 100kg final he defeated Czech Lukas Krpalek.
“I feel in a very good condition and I’m pleased with what I have achieved today. I have won Grand Slam gold for the first time having won silver in Moscow before so this means a lot to me. I thought my best fight was against Maxim Rakov,” said the 2011 world champion who hails from Samara.
In the women’s category, World No. 6 Marhinde Verkerk of Netherlands won a battle of former world champions as she defeated London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Mayra Aguiar of Brazil in the -78kg final. Aguiar came close to taking the lead with a de-ashi-barai attack before both judoka received two shidos apiece to move into golden score.
Verkerk eventually won the contest in added time by applying a koshi-jime strangle to force her Brazilian opponent to tap out.
