UAE judoka Ivan bows out in round of 32 match

Ivan Remarenco of UAE has lost his opening round of 32 match against Algeria’s Lyes Bouyakoub in the Judo men's under 100kg class.

Remarenco was seeking to emulate his fellow judoka Toma but could not come to grips with the Algerian who got 10 points to nothing.

UAE will continue their quest for an Olympic gold in Rio 2016 today when Ivan Remarenco competes in the men's Judo under 100kg class.

Remarenco faces Algeria’s Lyes Bouyakoub in the round of 32 match scheduled for 5:21pm UAE time as he seeks to emulate the feat of fellow Judoka Sergiu Toma who won a historic bronze medal in the under 81kgs class on Tuesday.

Toma has raised the expectations of Emiratis having become the country's second Olympic medallist after Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum won gold in the double trap shooting event at the Athens Games in 2004.

Remarenco, 28, one of three judokas representing UAE in Rio, won bronze at the 2014 World Championships in Russia.

“I am very proud to represent the UAE and win the medal for my country,” said three-time Olympian Toma who was lucky to win a medal on his third attempt.

The bronze has reignited 29 year-old Toma’s ambition to go for gold at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

“I’m aiming to participate in the Tokyo Games and it’s my ardent desire to bring gold for the UAE,” declared Toma.

“In Moldova it is not so possible like in the Emirates – a sport career is short,” said Moldovian-born Toma of his decision to represent the UAE.

“I want to say thank you to the UAE because they give our guys a chance to represent the UAE. We always believe and always did all possible to be in the top level.”

Nasser Al Tamimi, Secretary General of the of Wrestling, Judo, and Kick Boxing Federation (UAE WJKBF), while lauding Toma’s monumental feat, is determined to continue the momentum for the Tokyo Games 2020 by drafting long-term strategy until 2024.

“This tremendous achievement is the fruition of solid three years of intense, high-level preparation. Since January 2013, we have been preparing with right earnest and today you see the results,” said Tamimi.

He was confident that Toma's achievement would inspire Emirati judokas to strive to bring similar laurels to the country.

“This is the result of huge effort we have been putting in at the federation for a long time,” said Mohamed Bin Thaaloob Al Derei, the president of the UAE WJKBF.

“We appreciate the unlimited support accorded by our wise leadership culminated by such memorable achievement, which has ranked the UAE at the forefront of the 16 Arab countries participating in the Olympics out of 136 countries in the games.”

Dawood Al Hajiri, Assistant Secretary-General of the National Olympic Committee said that seeing the UAE’s flag fluttering high in Olympic is a great honour.

Medal quest

Earlier on Monday, the UAE opened their quest for a medal in judo when Victor Scvortov won his opening round of 32 bout against Ziad Mattar of Yemen in the lightweight under 63kg weight class before losing to the eventual gold medallist  Japan's Shohei Ono in the next round.

Emirati shooter Khalid Al Kaabi missed out on making it to the semifinals of the men's double trap in his debut at the Olympics despite firing a near perfect score of 29 in the final round of qualification on Wednesday.

Al Kaabi finished with an aggregate score of 133 to be placed ninth out of 22 shooters in the event where only the top six progress to the semifinals.

Cyclist Yousif Mirza was first off the blocks for UAE on Saturday morning  in the Road Race.

However, the top Asian cyclist, was involved in a pile-up with a pack of riders after 30km.

Yaqoob Al Saadi was the second athlete to compete in Rio when he made a splash in the 100m backstroke.

Al Saadi, 20, finished fifth out of seven swimmers in his heat clocking 59.58 seconds.

Aysha Al Balooshi competed in the Women’s 58kg Group B weightlifting contest on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

UAE has sent a 13-member delegation for the XXX1 Olympiad.

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