Events Details

TASHKENT:  If the first two days of hectic activities brought on view the individual supremacies of men and women judokas at the Asian Judo Championships, the last day of the meet saw the domination of teams on the whole from the region.

Without a doubt, the South Korean men proved too strong for the rest in fray to claim gold in the team championships, beating Japanese judokas. However, the Japanese made amends by winning gold in the women’s section.

And Uzbekistan’s men shared the third spot with Kazakhstan as Timur Hudoykulov, Mirzokhid Farmonov, Mirali Sharipov, Yakhyo Imamov and Dilshod Choriyev did star turns for the hosts. Incidentally, they finished fourth in overall rankings.

Apart from what the judokas from 26 nations in the region did—the Tashkent event was the last chance for them to get additional rating points—what came to the fore was the participants’ high skills on the mat, healthy competitions and, above all, the spirit both on and off the arena. Similarly, the great respect every judoka showed to the referees, judges, other officials and the fellow competitor took the sport to even greater height.

Organizing a meet of this magnitude is not easy, particularly when it comes to taking care of the players, numbering 180, and a host of officials from the IJF and JUA pooled from around the globe. Transporting them from hotels to venue and back to the hotels and meeting their professional needs could be a real headache, but the Uzbek organizers, particularly the team led by Armen Bagdasarov, acquitted themselves very well with a smile on their faces all the time. The Uzbek government extended its full support for the event and therein lies the interest and commitment.
During the opening ceremony, Mr. Obaid Al-Anzi, president, JUA presented JUA Golden Award to Mr. Marius Vizer, president, IJF for his outstanding services and contribution in promoting Judo through-out the world.
Understandably, Mr Marius L. Vizer was full of praise for the organizers. During the function held to bestow Mr Vizer with the honorary professorship, the IJF president said: “…Uzbek government has shown a great respect for the sport in general and especially for judo…Judo has values, you recognize it and I am happy for that. We have known one another for a long time with Armen…”

Mr Obaid Al-Anzi, President of Judo Union of Asia, who was present all the three days at the beautiful venue to watch the proceedings and give away medals to all winners, had nice words of appreciation for the organizers in his concluding speech. But the real icing on the cake was when the JUA President presented the gold medal to Armen Bagdasarov, the President of Uzbek Judo Federation, for his tireless effort and excellent organization. Such a gesture from the JUA chief was a well-deserving recognition to Armen Bagdasarov, who won silver at the Atlanta Olympics.