Turkmen judoka Serdar Rahimov stopped a step away from the bronze medal in his performance at the 2023 Portuguese Grand Prix that ended in the city of Almada. 544 judokas (317 men and 227 women) from 81 countries on five continents fought for medals and rating points on the way to the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 in seven men's and seven women's weight categories. Turkmenistan was represented by 8 athletes (5 men and 3 women), the best result of which was shown by Serdar Rahimov.
On the way to the semi-finals of the weight category up to 66 kg, in which 50 judokas competed for medals, he won four confident victories. In the first two fights, Serdar won cleanly against Unubold Lhagvajamts (Mongolia) and Freddie Weizenegger (Switzerland), and then, with the help of the "wazari", he defeated Obid Jebov (Tajikistan) and Eric Takabatake (Brazil). In the duel for reaching the final, S. Rahimov lost to the winner of the Portuguese Grand Prix-2023 Mukhriddin Tilovov (Uzbekistan), and in the meeting for 3rd place he lost to Radu Izvorean (Moldova). It is noteworthy that in the course of the fight our compatriot won "Vazari", but 49 seconds before the end of the meeting he got caught and lost by ipon and wining the fifth place.
This is the best result in the tournaments of the International Judo Federation (IJF) for 18-year-old Serdar Rahimov, who trains under the guidance of Gahryman Amandurdiyev. The next serious test for Turkmen judokas will be the Grand Slam tournament, which will be held in Paris (France) from February 4 to 5, 2023. In a series of other stages of the World Tour, these competitions are considered the most prestigious. They gather the largest number of participants, including the most famous judokas of the planet. It is expected that 548 athletes (337 men and 211 women) from 85 countries on five continents will take part in the upcoming Grand Slam tournament.
Turkmenistan announced 10 judokas. The men's team included: Aibek Omirov, Hakberdy Jumaev (both in the weight category up to 60 kg), Serdar Rakhimov, Hekim Agamammedov (both up to 66 kg), Parahat Nazarov (up to 73 kg) and Shatlyk Seyitmuradov (up to 81 kg), and in the women's - Aksoltan Hojageldyeva, Kurbanay Kurbanova (both - up to 48 kg), Maysa Pardaeva (up to 57 kg) and Zulhumar Dashkinova (up to 63 kg).
