IJF Grand Slam

2026 Abu Dhabi GS: Day 1

2026 Abu Dhabi GS: Day 1



-48kg Gold: Aliyeva (AZE)
Konul Aliyeva (AZE) delivered a landmark victory for Azerbaijani women's judo defeating Merve Azak (TUR) in the -48kg final to claim her first Grand Slam title. In doing so, she became the first Azerbaijani woman to win gold on the IJF World Judo Tour. 

-60kg Gold: Aghayev (AZE)
Balabay Aghayev (AZE) defeated Loiq Kudbudinov (TJK) with a spectacular one-handed drop sode which scored ippon. This was Aghayev's eighth IJF World Tour gold medal.

-52kg Gold: Topolovec (CRO)
Tihea Topolovec (CRO) produced a major upset by defeating Olympic medalist Amandine Buchard (FRA) in the -52kg final to capture her first-ever Grand Slam medal. 

-66kg Gold: Boqiev (BRN)
Sukhrob Boqiev (BRN) produced arguably the biggest upset of the tournament by defeating former World Champion Iago Abuladze (RUS). Boqiev was ranked 277th in the world when he entered the tournament. Following his win in Abu Dhabi, his ranking is now 50th in the world.

-57kg Gold: Fawaz (FRA)
It was really a back-and-forth battle for points between Martha Fawaz (FRA) and Shirlen Nascimento (BRA) in a thrilling final where both players were attacking and scoring. Nascimento had a waza-ari and a yuko but Fawaz prevailed by using a driving ouchi-gari to score her second waza-ari.

Blog posts

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IJF Grand Slam2026 Abu Dhabi GS: Day 2

2026 Abu Dhabi GS: Day 2

On Day, the medals were spread among Poland, Morocco, Portugal and Moldova.

IJF Grand Slam2026 Abu Dhabi GS: Day 1

2026 Abu Dhabi GS: Day 1

On Day 1, two golds for Azerbaijan and one gold each for Croatia, Bahrain and France.

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