For more than three and a half years, the Russian anthem could not be heard at international tournaments held under the auspices of federations that were faithful to the recommendations of the IOC. But someday this madness had to end, and finally a miracle happened! At the Grand Slam tournament in Abu Dhabi, Russian judokas reminded everyone where they came from.

The long-awaited victory with the flag and anthem.

Late throw

On Friday, November 28, the long-awaited return of the flag to Russian athletes officially took place. The first to compete under national symbols, if we leave out amateur boxing under the auspices of the IBA and non-Olympic sports, were judokas. A historic event took place at the Grand Slam tournament in Abu Dhabi. And already on the first day of the tournament, several Russians had the opportunity to compete for medals.

Sabina Gilyazova was the first to have the honor of competing for the award. The 31-year-old native of the Chelyabinsk region twice took bronze at the European Championships, and at the Grand Slam stages she had medals of all merits. This time the judoka, competing in the up to 48 kg category, had to compete for bronze in the small final.

Unfortunately, we were unable to cope with the representative of Japan. Yua Mori snatched the win with her only assist. The opponent earned a “juko” in the first half of the fight and maintained a minimal advantage for the rest of the fight, without giving the judge a formal reason to punish her with a remark. At the very end, Gilyazova was still able to drop the Japanese woman, but she was literally one second late with her throw, and therefore did not receive any marks.

The long-awaited anthem

The first Russian participant in the finals at the tournament in Abu Dhabi was the current European vice-champion and bronze medalist of the World Championship Ayub Bliev, competing in the up to 60 kg category. His counterpart in the fight for gold was the athlete from Mongolia Ariunbold Enkhtaivan, who won silver at the World Championships in 2022. This fight took place with complete dominance of our athlete. Already in the first seconds he earned “waza-ari”: first he cut his knee and then threw his opponent over himself.

Soon the fans began to wildly celebrate the victory, but it was too early. The judges first gave the Russian an “ippon” for the throw, and then revised the decision and left Ayub’s actions without evaluation at all. He was not taken aback and after a while he was tormenting his opponent on the ground, trying to take his arm for a painful hold. Russian judo fans did not expect an early victory, but this is not so important. Bliev confidently retained his advantage and brought the fight to victory.

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After awarding the athletes from Turkey, Georgia and Mongolia, Ayub Bliev received a gold medal from the hands of a representative of the International Judo Federation (IJF), and then what happened was what Russian fans had been waiting for for three and a half years. At the official international tournament, the Russian flag was raised to the sounds of the Russian anthem.

Lost Victory

In the up to 66 kg category, another Russian, the current European vice-champion Murad Chopanov, fought for gold. The opponent of the 27-year-old native of Dagestan was the winner of the 2024 Olympic Games in the team, world championship medalist, winner and medalist of the European championships Walid Khyar.

The 30-year-old Frenchman won bronze at the European Championships in Podgorica in 2025, but they did not cross paths with Chopanov on the tatami at that time. However, previously the only head-to-head confrontation ended in Khyar’s victory. This time Murad had every chance to take revenge: he quickly earned a “yuko” by successfully executing the hold.

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Walid pressed unsuccessfully throughout the rest of the fight. However, at the last second he equalized the score, and in extra time, a somewhat demoralized Chopanov allowed his opponent to earn a “golden point”. For the second time in a day, unfortunately, the Russian anthem was not played.

Natalya Elkina, who competed in the up to 57 kg category, did not compete for the victory celebration during the anthem: she had to compete only for bronze. Alas, it was not possible to celebrate the victory without the anthem. Having received three warnings during the fight against the representative of the Netherlands, our athlete was left without a medal.

Watch the live broadcast of the competition at the Grand Slam tournament in Abu Dhabi on the Match TV and Match Fighter channels, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.