Russian judoka Makhmadbekov announced that he will compete for the UAE

Judoka Makhmadbek Makhmadbekov, who previously represented Russia in competitions, announced on social media that he will now compete for the UAE.

— From an early age, all I do is train and fight, fight not only on the mat, but also in life, defending my opinion and my vision of the world. And it doesn’t matter how many times I was wrong and who stands in front of me, how many times I got it and fell, but these were always my decisions, with which I tread my own path in this life.

Now it’s time to make a decision that will change my life again. This decision was not easy, but my ambitions did not give me a choice, I can not sacrifice everything that I have been through. It was the longest and hardest summer of my life. Hard emotionally. But everything that does not kill us makes us stronger. I had a lot of time to think. I found new strength and crazy motivation to start everything from scratch and go through this whole path again. Well, I can not do it differently, this is how the Almighty created me. And no matter what anyone says, no matter what anyone thinks – I do not care. This is my decision, this is my life, and I will do as my heart feels.

It was also very difficult for me to leave the national team, I grew up in it, my journey began at the age of 15 at the youth level, for 9 years I represented Russia on the international arena. I still love this country, all my close friends are there, I am grateful to every coach of the national team and the Russian Judo Federation, they are all people with a capital letter. You can’t even imagine how difficult it was to make such a decision, because my whole life was [связана] with these people, and this is my family, and whatever the case, I think they understand me, perhaps not all of them, – wrote Makhmadbekov.

He accompanied the message with a photo of his profile on the International Judo Federation website. The sports nationality column there lists the UAE.

The 24-year-old athlete received an invitation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to participate in the Paris Olympics as a neutral. On July 3, the IOC press service reported that Makhmadbekov had accepted the offer to compete in the Games. Later, the President of the Russian Judo Federation, Sergei Soloveichik, announced that Makhmadbekov had refused to participate in the Olympics.

Makhmadbekov won Grand Slam tournaments and became a prize winner at the European Youth Championship (for athletes under 23 years of age).