UAE judo chief says team capable of winning 'more than one medal' at Paris Olympics

Six judokas part of 14-member squad that will take part in July 26-August 11 Games

UAE Olympic judo team members: Nugzari Tatalashvili competes in the 81kg division. Getty

Khorloodoi Bishrelt, right, is the UAE's lone female judoka at the Paris Olympics. Reuters

Aram Grigorian is a medal prospect in the 90kg division. Reuters

Narmandakh Bayanmunkh will hope to bring home an Olympic medal in the men's 66Kg division. Reuters

The UAE will have high hopes of making a mark at the biggest stage as they get ready to participate in the Paris Olympics.

It will be the 11th Olympics for the nation, having first appeared at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

The country won a first gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games, when Sheikh Ahmed bin Hasher won the men's double trap shooting.

Judo remains the only other Olympic event the UAE have medalled in. At the 2016 Rio Games, Moldovan-born Sergiu Toma won a bronze at 2016 Rio in the 81kg division.

Toma was part of the first batch of 'naturalised' athletes to compete for the UAE alongside fellow Moldovans Victor Scvortov and Ivan Remarenco, who also took part in the Rio Games. Scvortov and Remarenco also competed at Tokyo 2020 while Toma was ruled out by injury.

On Friday, the National Olympic Committee announced a 14-strong squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics featuring six judokas for the Games that begin July 26.

Representing the men are Narmandakh Bayanmunkh (66kg), Nugzari Tatalashvili (81kg), Aram Grigorian (90kg), Dzhafar Kostoev (100kg) and Magomedomar Magomedomarov (+100kg). Khorloodoi Bishrelt (52kg) is the lone female in the team.

Federation general secretary Nasser Al Tamimi told The National he has high hopes that the UAE judokas can compete for several medals in Paris.

“We always aim high every time we participate in the Olympic Games, and that’s our target and vision,” he said.

“Our situation in the last Olympics in Tokyo was a little bit different as we had injury issues. This time the numbers we wanted at Paris have gone exactly as we planned.

“We started with a new squad soon after Tokyo and have six of the seven judokas qualified for Paris. From this, we have four men in the top 18 in the world ranking, which gives us a very positive way to think we have more than a medal out there.

“We are not counting out our first women judoka Khorloodoi. She can fight for a medal.”

The UAE have retained Scvortov and Remarenco as head coach and his assistant, respectively.

“Victor and Ivan have both competed in two Olympics for us and they add value to our team as they have been part of our strategy and have a good idea of what we need from the new squad,” Al Tamimi said.

The idea of 'naturalising' foreign-born judokas was part of the UAE Wrestling and Judo Federation's long-term strategy to develop the UAE’s youth into Olympic medal prospects, according to Al Tamimi.

All six of the UAE judokas competed in the IJF World Championship in Abu Dhabi in May but none reached the medal rounds.

“Their priority was Paris, for which they already qualified when they arrived for the world championship in Abu Dhabi, and hence, their health and welfare was more important for us than the results,” Al Tamimi said.

“All of them have been competing for ranking points throughout the year and once they achieved that the focus quickly shifted to Paris, which was our main goal.

“They are currently in a camp in Spain and will fly directly to Paris for the Games. We think they are all in great shape physically and the final preparation is to mentally prepare them as it’s their first Olympics.”