Tokyo Olympics: UAE vow to bounce back after Remarenco's defeat

Dubai - Remarenco, a bronze medallist at the 2014 World Judo Championships, had suffered a shoulder injury last year

UAE judoka Ivan Remarenco failed to produce his best form at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday. The 32-year-old Remarenco lost to Shady El Nahas of Canada in the round of 32 clash.

Remarenco’s defeat in the 100kg category left sprint star Hassan Al Noubi as the only UAE athlete in Tokyo.

Al Noubi will compete in the 100 meters heats on Saturday.

Remarenco, an accomplished performer on the international stage, had no answers to El Nahas’ brilliance on Thursday, losing the round of 32 clash by a 10-0 margin.

Earlier, shooter Saif bin Futtais (skeet shooting), judoka Victor Scvortov (73 kg category) and swimmer Yousuf Al Matrooshi (100 metres freestyle) bowed out of their respective events at the Tokyo Games.

Remarenco, a bronze medallist at the 2014 World Judo Championships, had suffered a shoulder injury last year.

Nasser Al Tamimi, Secretary-General of the UAE Judo and Wrestling Federation, said they would now look to the future and train athletes for the next two Summer Olympic Games in Paris (2024) and Los Angeles (2028).

“We apologise to the leadership and people of the UAE for not being able to achieve an Olympic medal in Tokyo,” Al Tamimi said.

“The Judo and Wrestling Federation always considers failure as the biggest motivator to work hard, address the negative areas and work on them.”

Al Tamimi said Victor Scvortov was very impressive despite his defeat in the round of 32 clash against Tommy Macias of Sweden (10s1-1s2).

“As for Ivan (Remarenco), he suffered a shoulder injury last year and had to stop training for a period of time to recover from the injury,” Al Tamimi informed.

Al Tamimi promised that the federation would leave no stone unturned in their attempt to produce world-class athletes for the next two Olympic Games.

“The Olympics have a special and different character, especially in judo. It is difficult to predict the champion and the loser,” he said, referring to the shock defeats suffered by several champion judokas in Tokyo.

Al Tamimi said preparations for the next Olympics will begin from September this year.