Iranian judoka Javad Mahjoub displayed remarkable athletic skills at the Antalya Grand Prix 2018 in Turkey, and deservedly progressed to the final round of the over 100-kilogram weight class contest.

The IJF World Judo Tour’s final stop before the opening of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification phase is underway while the Antalya Grand Prix has attracted 319 judoka and 50 nations to the country’s famed resort city.

The win, which guarantees the Iranian Judoka a silver medal, set up a last-two tie against Russian 20 year Judoka Inal Tasoev.

Javad Mahjoub was the only judoka from Iran who managed to win a bronze medal in men’s +100kg weight division from Judo Grand Prix 2018.

The winner of the gold medal in 2013 Bangkok Asian Championships Javad Mahjoub advanced to the final after triumphing over Mustapha Abdallaoui from Morocco, Maisara Elnagar from Egypt, Tamerlan Bashaev from Russia and Vladut Simionescu from Romania.

Mahjoub lost the final match to Oleksandr Godriienko from Ukraine and won a bronze medal.

Alireza Khojasteh, Ghassem Nourizadeh and Ali Gholipour Motlagh were other Iranian judoka who failed to advance to the finals.

Tunisia Grand Prix 2018 was held from January 19-28, 2018 with 46 countries and 335 judoka in attendance.

The Public Relations Department of the Iranian Judo Federation said, as per earlier coordination, Nicolas Baudou, one of world’s leading judo coaches arrived in Iran’s capital city on Saturday morning to attend joint talks.

The French coach will be staying in Iran for a week and will make visits to training sessions of the national team. In case agreements are reached between the two sides, further decisions will be made on how to proceed and on his future activities in Iran.

Previously, coaches from Azerbaijan and Ukraine had traveled to Tehran though no final accord was sealed between them and the Federation’s officials.

Judo in Iran was mainly promoted by the great results of Arash Miresmaeili. He was double World Champion in 2001 and 2003 and won bronze in 2005 and 2007. Arash Miresmaeili pulled back from the 2004 Olympic Games as a hero. Iranian judoka Sayed Mahmoud Miran won bronze at the Worlds in 2001 and was 5th at the Olympic Games in 2004.

Also Masoud Haji Akhound Zade, Ali Malootmat and Mohamed Reza Rodaki finished fifth at Olympic level. In 2016 judo Iran had Alireza Khojasteh, Saeid Mollaei and Javad Mahjoub at the Olympic Games in Rio. Judoka Mahjoub won the only Grand Slam for Iran, in 2013 the IJF Grand Slam in Moscow.