Paris Olympics 2024: Frustrating day for UAE athletes in judo and swimming

Judokas Khorloodoi and Bayanmunkh both exit at early stages while Al Shehi finishes fifth in 200m freestyle heat

UAEs' Khorloodoi Bishrelt (blue) during her defeat against Mascha Ballhaus in the quarter-finals of the -52kg category on July 28, 2024. AFP

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It was a frustrating day for UAE athletes on the judo mat and in the swimming pool on Sunday.

Judoka Bishrelt Khorloodoi had kick-started the UAE's Olympic campaign in fine style by dominating opponent Yeqing Zhu of China in their -52kg match.

Asian Games silver medallist Khorloodoi secured a 10-0 clean sweep victory to move into the last 16, where she took on Germany's Mascha Ballhaus for a place in the quarter-finals.

But after her dominant opening performance, Khorloodoi – the UAE's lone female representative in the judo – was unable to make it two wins from two, falling to an 11-0 thumping at Champ-de-Mars Arena.

Khorloodoi's teammate Narmandakh Bayanmunkh also fell to a heavy defeat, losing his 66kg Round of 32 match against South Korea's An Ba-ul 10-0.

The UAE's other hopes in the judo are Nugzari Tatalashvili (81kg), Aram Grigorian (90kg), Dzhafar Kostoev (100kg) and Asian Games gold medallist Magomedomar Magomedomarov (+100kg).

Tatalashvili is in action against Puerto Rico's Adrian Gandia on Tuesday, Grigorian faces Uzbekistan's Davlat Bobonov on Wednesday, Kostoev tackles Brazil's Leonardo Goncalves on Thursday before Friday's clash between Magomedomarov and the Algerian Mohamed El Mehdi Lili.

Before the Games, UAE judo chief Nasser Al Tamimi said that he hopes the UAE judokas can compete for several medals in Paris.

“We always aim high every time we participate in the Olympic Games, and that’s our target and vision,” he said.

“Our situation in the last Olympics in Tokyo was a little bit different as we had injury issues. This time the numbers we wanted at Paris have gone exactly as we planned.”

UAE swimmer Maha Abdullah Al Shehi competed in the first heat of the 200m freestyle and placed fifth with a time of 2:17.17, failing to qualify for the next round.

The 18-year-old finished one place ahead of fellow debutant Mashael Alayed, who made history as the first female swimmer to represent Saudi Arabia in the pool at an Olympic Games. Alayed, 17, clocked a career-best time of 2:19.61 at the Paris La Defense Arena in Paris.

The UAE are participating in the Olympic Games for the 11th time, having first appeared at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

The country won a first gold medal at Athens in 2004, when Sheikh Ahmed bin Hasher won the men's double trap shooting.

The UAE flag was raised again on the Olympic podiums during the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics when judoka Sergiu Toma won a bronze medal in the 81kg event.