Turkmen judoka Maysa Pardayeva won a bronze medal at the Antalya Grand Slam 2024, which started on March 29 in Turkey.

The three-day tournament with the prize fund of €154,000 brought together 628 athletes (355 men and 273 women) from 93 countries across five continents, competing for 14 sets of medals in seven men's and seven women's weight categories. Among the participants were many renowned judokas, including current world champions and Olympic medalists.

Turkmenistan is represented by eight judokas - five men and three women - at the Antalya Grand Slam 2024. And it is very gratifying that our compatriot stepped onto the podium on the first day of the competition.

Maysa Pardayeva became a bronze medalist in the women's weight category up to 57 kg, where 44 judokas from 33 countries competed for the medals. The 19-year-old first-year student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture won five matches on her way to this success.

In the first round, Maysa achieved a clean victory over Ngoc Diem Phuong Nguyen from Vietnam, and in the second round, she defeated by two "waza-ari" scores Jasmine Martin from South Africa, bronze medalist of the African Championships 2023 and champion of the 13th African Games-2024. In the third round, our compatriot won by "ippon" in the 2nd minute of the fight against Pauline Starke from Germany, a bronze medalist of the Tashkent Grand Slam 2024. However, in the quarterfinals, she lost to Faiza Mokdar from France, the Paris Grand Slam 2024 winner, and had to reach the podium through the consolation tournament.

In her first match, M. Pardayeva won against Kim Juhee from the Republic of Korea in a tough battle by "waza-ari". And just like at the XIХ Asian Games in Hangzhou, she faced in the match for the bronze Chinese judoka Cai Qi, a bronze medalist of the Warsaw World Cup 2023, the Kazakhstan Grand Slam 2023 and the Dushanbe Grand Prix 2023. Six months ago, Maysa achieved a clean victory in China in the last minute of the bout. And now, she proved to be stronger again, throwing her opponent for "ippon" in the third minute of the match. After the video referee confirmed this successful action, a jubilant M. Pardayeva rushed into the arms of coach Tatiana Vidyasova.

Faiza Mokdar from France is the holder of the second bronze medal in the weight category up to 57 kg and a cash prize of 1200 euros. The silver medal and 2400 euros went to Jessica Lima from Brazil, a medalist of the Grand Slam 2023 in Abu Dhabi and Tokyo. And the gold medal and 4000 euros were awarded to Christa Deguchi from Canada, the two-time world champion in 2019 and 2023. The coaches of the medalists received 1000 euros for first place, 600 euros for second place, and 300 euros for third place.

At the awarding ceremony, the Turkmen athlete was presented with a bronze medal in the company of esteemed judokas. Following this, in honor of our compatriot's success, the State flag of Turkmenistan was raised under the arches of the Antalya Sports Palace.

Maysa Pardayeva ranked second among Turkmen judokas and became the first female athlete in our team to win a medal at prestigious Grand Slam tournaments held worldwide. Winners and medalists of these tournaments earn ranking points for participation in world championships and the Olympic Games.

It is worth recalling that the first among Turkmen judo masters to step onto the podium at the Grand Slam tournaments was Hekim Agammamedov, who won bronze in the weight category up to 66 kg in Tokyo in December of last year. As for the women, the best result before this was the 5th place achieved by Gulbadam Babamuratova at the Grand Slam Baku 2014. She won twice and was a medalist in various competitions, including the Grand Prix in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Samsun (Turkey), Qingdao (China), Dusseldorf (Germany), Agadir (Morocco), and Tbilisi (Georgia). 

And now, a new bright page has been written in the history of Turkmen judo. Thanks to the bronze success at the Antalya Grand Slam 2024, M. Pardayeva, who was previously in 33rd place in the world rankings, increased her rating by 500 points and made a significant bid to secure a continental quota for participating in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

This remarkable achievement is rightfully shared by Maysa's first coach, Jora Matnazarov, from the Koytendag etrap of Lebap velayat, as well as her current coaches - Tatiana Vidyasova, the senior coach of the cadet (under 17) and junior (under 20) national teams of Turkmenistan, and Kazuhiko Tokuno, the head coach of the national team from Japan.

Maysa Pardayeva first made headlines in 2022 when she won the Junior Asian Cup in Almaty. She repeated this success at the tournament in Tashkent in 2023. Last year, this talented judoka also won silver at the Sarajevo Junior European Cup 2023 and bronze at the Asian Open tournament in Kuwait and the XIХ Asian Games in Hangzhou. 

At the Asian Games in China, Maysa Pardayeva was entrusted with the role of carrying the flag of the Turkmenistan team at the opening ceremony. She not only excelled in this role but also raised the sports prestige of the country by winning a medal at the major complex events of the year.