Podium Eludes Bahrain Judo Duo

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Mukhamed Aloev and Askerbii Gerbekov both came within one victory of the podium at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, yesterday, finishing joint fifth in their respective judo competitions.

Aloev began his men’s -73kg campaign at Aichi International Arena by needing just 31 seconds to defeat Laos’ Xaisengxeun NouveneuEN by ippon with a ko-soto-gake.

The Bahraini then faced eventual champion Kazbek Naguchev of the UAE in the quarter-finals, where he was beaten by ippon in 3:26 and sent into repechage.

Aloev responded by overcoming the Philippines’ Gabriel Benedict Quitain in a gruelling contest, scoring a yuko with an o-uchi-gari at 6:02 in golden score to earn a shot at bronze.

His medal bid, however, was ended by Japan’s Tatsuki Ishihara, who secured an ippon with a seoi-nage after just 28 seconds.  

Naguchev went on to claim gold, with Uzbekistan’s Shakhram Ahadov taking silver and Ishihara and Tajikistan’s Muhiddin Asadulloev earning the two bronze medals.  

Gerbekov followed a similar path in the men’s -81kg division, opening with an ippon victory over Bangladesh’s Amirul Islam in 2:12 before meeting Japan’s Sotaro Fujiwara in the quarter-finals.

The contest went into golden score, where Fujiwara eventually prevailed by yuko at 5:57 to send the Bahraini into repechage.

Gerbekov kept his medal hopes alive with an ippon victory over Hong Kong, China’s Lee Kwok Wing in 3:26, setting up a bronze-medal contest against Tajikistan’s Abubakr Sherov.  

Sherov scored a waza-ari with a sumi-gaeshi at 3:00 before adding a yuko 40 seconds later, seeing out the four-minute contest to take bronze and leave Gerbekov joint fifth.

Fujiwara won the division ahead of Kazakhstan’s Adilet Almat, while Sherov and South Korea’s Lee Joonhwan completed the podium.

Judo competition continues through Saturday.