Top judoka vie for spot in Rio 2016 at IBSA World Games

Uzbekistan’s Sayidov, Sharipov and Nurmetova are riding momentum off of February’s World Cup. 11 May 2015

Afag Sultanova of Azerbaijan (blue) defeated Duygu Cete of Turkey in women's -57kg semi-final judo match on her way to the gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Ⓒwww.photo-hartmann.de

By Nico Goda | For the IPC

Rio 2016 Paralympic qualification spots are at stake for many of the world’s top judoka competing in this week’s International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Games in Seoul, South Korea.

More than 200 judoka – representing 38 countries – will participate in three classifications in the event which runs from 8-18 May.

Uzbekistan, who topped the medals in this year’s first World Cup in February in Eger, Hungary, have three of their gold medallists returning; Feruz Sayidov and Shirin Sharipov represent the men, and Tursunpashsha Nurmetova leads the women.

Meanwhile, fellow Koreans Jung Min Lee and Ha Na Seo aim to carry over their gold medal performances from the World Cup in Hungary.

Two of the top American men will also compete; Myles Porter is looking to qualify for Rio 2016, while teammate Dartanyon Crockett already has his spot after winning the 2014 World Championships. Crockett, however, will try to best his seventh place finish from Hungary.

Other London 2012 Paralympic champions competing are Ukraine’s Davyd Khorava, Dmytro Solovey, Olexandr Kosinov; Japan’s Kento Masaki; Germany’s sisters Carmen and Ramona Brussig; and Spain’s Carmen Herrera.