On March 1-3, the international judo tournament “Grand Slam” was held in Tashkent. The Uzbek team won 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals, a total of 6 medals. According to the information of the National Olympic Committee, the Uzbeks won the third place after France and Japan in the competition with the participation of about 500 athletes from 68 countries.
Doston Ruziyev in the -60 kg weight category won the gold medal in the competitions on March 1. This athlete, who participated in the finals of the IJF classification for the first time, defeated the winner of the world championship, Giorgi Sardashvili from Georgia, and won the team's first medal.
This championship gave Ruziyev 1,000 points for the world and Paris-2024 rankings.
Gulkhayo Jurayeva, representative of the -52 kg weight category, also won a medal on the same day. She also successfully participated in the first major competition of her career and reached the final by defeating Chelsea Giles, the winner of the Olympic Games and the World Championship, who is currently ranked 6th in the world.
But in the decisive match, the French judoka, the finalist of the Tokyo Olympics, the multiple winner of the world championships, and currently ranked 3rd in the world, lost the opportunity to Amandin Bouchard.
On the same day, Sardor Nurillayev, who fought for a bronze medal in the -66 kg weight category, lost to Brazilian William Lima.
The competitions on March 2 also gave the team two medals.
Shakhram Akhadov, who defended the honor of Uzbekistan in the weight category of -73 kg, became the winner of the “Grand Slam” tournament for the fifth time. In the last match for the third place, he beat the Russian Makhmadbek Makhmadbekov (who participated as a neutral athlete).
Another representative of the Uzbekistan team in the -73 kg weight category, Obidkhan Numanov, also became the owner of a bronze medal. In the fight for the third place, Daniyar Shamshayev from Kazakhstan used a prohibited method and the victory was given to the athlete from Uzbekistan.
Akhadov and Numanov added 500 points to their accounts for the world and Paris-2024 rankings.
Gulnoza Matniyozova, who fought for a bronze medal in the -70 kg weight category, lost to Margit de Vugt from the Netherlands.
On March 3, the Uzbek team won one more gold and one bronze.
Davlat Bobonov, a representative of the -90 kg weight class, defeated Ivan Morales from Cuba in the 16th second in the fight for the third place. Bobonov’s number of medals in “Grand Slam” tournaments has reached nine. In 2022, he became the world judo champion at the competition held in Tashkent.
Muzaffarbek Turaboyev (-100 kg), winner of the World Champion, Masters Tournament and Asian Games, increased his titles by one more. In the final, he won the gold medal by defeating Russian Matvey Kanikovsky (in neutral status), who did not know what defeat was in his previous two competitions, within 13 seconds. In this way, Turaboyev added 1000 points to his account for the ranking of the world and Paris-2024 Olympic Games.
Shohrukh Bakhtiyorov, who fought for the bronze medal in the +100 kg weight category, lost to Russian Inal Tasoyev (neutral athlete).
