The UAE’s Sergiu Toma captured bronze with a stunning ippon manoeuvre on the second day of the IPIC Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam.
Toma, who was competing at his first event following a year away from the sport due to injury, said he was disappointed not to get a gold medal, but happy to be on the podium.
The 27-year-old was a comfortable winner in his bronze medal match against Greek opponent Roman Moustopoulos, scoring a 111-10 victory thanks to a brilliant ippon, flipping the Greek in the air and crashing him into the mat, with 49 seconds to go. Toma, of Moldovan descent, led 1-0 through a yuko.
Moustopoulos went ahead with a waza-ari but Toma edged 11-10 ahead with his own, before the crucial ippon. Following the bout, at Abu Dhabi’s FGB Arena, Toma said:
“I am feeling good. It wasn’t gold but I think next time it will be gold. I’m feeling very happy with my performance and I’m very proud to represent the UAE.”
There was disappointment elsewhere for the UAE, as world No1 Victor Scvortov was eliminated in the first round of the -73kg category by Turkey’s Hasan Vanlioglu. Team-mate Humaid Alderei was also beaten at the same stage by Spaniard Kiyoshi Uematsu.
Nasser Al Timimi, secretary general of the UAE Judo Federation, said he had expected better from the UAE team, but was extremely happy for Toma.
“We expected better results but this is judo, it happens,” he said.
“Sergiu got his bronze. He could not fight for one year and this was his first competition, so I think he has exceeded expectations.”
In the day’s finals, Russian Ivan Nifontov won gold in the -81kg category, beating Canadian Antoine Valois-Fortier, while Dutchman Dex Elmont was awarded gold in the -73kg as Russian opponent Musa Mogushkov was injured.
Laura Vargas-Koch won gold for Germany in the women’s -70kg, beating Austrian Bernadette Graf, while Slovenia’s Tina Trstenjak beat Canada’s Anicka van Emden to gold in the -63kg.
