Ramazan Abdulaev finally wins that fat gold medal

Ramazan Abdulaev (AIN) had never reached a grand prix final before. Regularly ranked, with two silver medals and two bronze medals in grand slams. Now he achieved to win a Grand Prix in Dushanbe, since he joined Bayramov for the lure of the gold medal U60kg. It should be noted that in the semi-finals, he eliminated the Olympic medallist Luka Mkheidze who until then had completed a faultless elimination phase.

Winner of the Tbilisi Grand Slam at the end of March but not ranked at the recent World Judo Championships - Doha 2023, Turan Bayramov (AZE) was nevertheless seeded number one in the tournament. True to his position as category leader in Dushanbe, he qualified for the final after defeating all his opponents, including two Tajik judoka, who were strongly encouraged by the public.

Ramazan Abdulaev did not leave too much hope to his opponent as he pinned him down twice. The first part was awarded with a waza-ari, before he got his leg caught, but a few seconds later the leg was out and the ippon was in. It was gold for Ramazan Abdulaev.

The first match for a bronze medal was between Muhammadsoleh Quvatov (TJK) and Luka Mkheidze (FRA). For the first medal match involving a Tajik judoka, the crowd warmed their voices. Halfway through, Quvatov had already two penalties to his name, while Mkheidze had received one shido only.

The third minute was fatal for Muhammadsoleh Quvatov as he couldn't stop Luka Mkheidze from scoring with a kata-guruma before the French judoka concluded on the floor with an immobilisation. Luka Mkheidze was looking for gold but he gets the bronze, which apparently satisfied him.

Tajikistan had another chance for a medal with Mehrzod Sufiev (TJK) qualifying for the second match for a bronze medal, against Andrea Carlino (ITA). Sufiev ignited the first burst of joy of the home crowd when he scored a beautiful ippon with an incredible yoko-tomoe-nage.