These October days, the eyes of judo fans are bent on the broadcasts from the multifunctional ice dome "Humo Arena” in Tashkent, which hosts the 2022 World Senior Championships. The tournament brought together the best athletes of this sport - legendary wrestlers from 82 countries of the world, champions and prize-winners of the Olympic Games, championships and World Cups, as well as talented youth striving for bright victories went to the tatami.
One of the highlights of the fifth day of the competition was the awards ceremony, during which the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev presented Davlat Bobonov with a gold medal. The Uzbek athlete delivered a number of excellent fights in 90 kg category and won a well-deserved victory, giving a holiday to the Uzbek fans.
Actually, from the very first day of the competitions it was clear that every athlete was set up for a stubborn fight and even the notorious favorites would not have an easy road to the podium. Fights in the first two days of the tournament showed the undeniable advantage of the Japanese judo school. Athletes from the Land of the rising sun were the leaders in four weight categories: men, N. Takato (up to 60 kg) and H. Abe (up to 63 kg), women N. Tsunoda (up to 48 kg) and U. Abe (up to 52 kg).
On the third day of the tournament the monopoly of Japanese athletes was broken by bronze medalist of the recent Olympics in Tokyo, Tsend-Ochiryn Tsogtbaatar from Mongolia, who won in category up to 73 kg. And in women competition in category up to 57 kg, the gold was captured by the 2016 Olympic champion and 2013 world champion Rafaela Silva from Brazil. After her victory, the experienced athlete choked with emotions:
“I hugged my coach and still couldn't believe that I won the World Championship again”. She was constantly repeating me: “It happened! It’s real. You did it again!”
The fourth day was marked by a lively opening ceremony, held by Marius Vizer, the President of the International Judo Federation and Abdulla Aripov, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The positive charge of the solemn event has also transferred to the wrestlers, which resulted in a whole scattering of wonderful fights that day. And the gold medalists of the day were M. Horikava from Japan in category up to 63 kg for women and T. Grigalashvili from Georgia in category up to 81 kg in men.
The Judo World Championships became, without a doubt, the highlight of the autumn. This became possible not only due to the presence of world-class stars, but also due to the excellent organization of the tournament by the International Judo Federation and sponsors, including Enter Engineering, which fully supports the development of sports in Uzbekistan and provides comprehensive assistance in organization of the event and in preparation of athletes for the competitions.