Iran’s three-man judo team won a gold medal at the Judo Grand Slam in Dusseldorf, Germany, February 23-25.
Saeid Mollaei, judoka in the -81kg category, grabbed the gold in the category by defeating all his rivals, according to the International Judo Federation website, Ijf.org.
Mollaei rested in the first round of the games to face Polish contender Damian Szwarnowiecki in the second round. After defeating the Pole, Mollaei passed over three-time European champion Koba Mchedlishvili from Georgia.
In the last match before the semis, Mollaei beat Britain’s Stuart McWatt to face Dominic Ressel from Germany in the semifinal. The Iranian finished the match victorious and entered the finals to fight for the gold.
The winning streak was not cut by Mollaei in the final game as he also won over the French judoka Alpha Oumar Djalo to win gold of the grand slam.
The charm-breaker Mollaei, 25, took bronze in the 2017 Budapest World Judo Championships to win the first international judo medal for Iran after 10 years.
Another Iranian judoka in the German event was Javad Mahjoub in the +100kg class who lost his first match to a Japanese rival and was forced out of the tournament.
A total of 500 judokas from 71 countries participated in the games which is the second Grand Slam in the current year.
In the course of the sporting season, the Düsseldorf event has become an unmissable event on the sports calendar of the International Judo Federation.
Having been for many years the first Grand Prix of the year, the event was promoted to the rank of Grand Slam in 2018, which gives it an even greater sporting value.
