Kazakh judoka Zhalgas Kairolla took fifth place at the Grand Slam series tournament in Abu Dhabi. In the bronze medal match in the 81 kg category, he lost to Slovenia's Igor Tsurkan. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Kairolla started the tournament with a victory over Brazil's Gabriel Falcao, then defeated Ukraine's Vladyslav Kolobov.
In the quarterfinals, the Kazakh faced Petru Pelivan of Moldova and suffered a defeat, which sent him to the repechage bracket.
There, Kairolla defeated Kyrgyzstan's Chyngyzkhan Sagynaliev and earned the right to fight for third place. In the medal bout, Tsurkan proved stronger. Thus, the Kazakh finished the competition in fifth position.
After two competition days, Kazakhstan's only medal at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam was won by Talgat Orynbasar. In the 60 kg category, he defeated Olympic champion Yeldos Smetov in an all-Kazakh bronze medal match. Smetov ultimately finished fifth, while Gusman Kyrgyzbaev placed seventh in the 66 kg weight class.
The Grand Slam judo tournament is being held in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from October 29 to 31 with the participation of 374 athletes from 59 countries. A total of 14 sets of medals (seven each among men and women) will be awarded. Kazakhstan's national team is represented by seven athletes.