Judoka from Kyzylorda Magzhan Shamshadin became the second champion in the history of Kazakh judo to win the Judo World Championship for Juniors in the men’s 55 kilogrammes category. The championship, which gathered 560 athletes from 85 countries took place Oct. 23-27 in Abu Dhabi (UAE).
Kazakh judoka Magzhan Shamshadin fights Harim Lee of South Korea in Abu Dhabi. Photo: judo inside.com
On his way to victory, Shamshadin defeated Uzbek judoka Doston Ruyizev, Armenian judoka Vagan Havsepyan, Azerbaijani judoka Natig Gurbanli and Georgian judoka Irakli Kurpanadze. In the final battle, the Kazakh athlete defeated his rival from South Korea, Ha-Rim Lee, by scoring an ippon, which is a winning score in judo.
Shamshadin was the only Kazakh athlete to attain a medal during the championship.
In 2010, another judoka from Kazakhstan, Yeldos Smetov, received the highest award during the Judo World Championship for Juniors. Smetov won gold at the World Judo Championship held in Astana this year.
“Yeldos Smetov won this honoured title of the world champion five years ago and I am very glad to let Kazakhstan top the judo rankings this year again,” said Shamshadin after the competition.
Shamshadin was born in 1997 in Kyzylorda. He graduated from the Z. Bahadur regional children’s sports school. The athlete is a second year student at Kyzylorda Humanitarian College. In 2014, Shamshadin became the silver medalist at the Kazakhstan Judo Championship for Juniors. In the same year, he attained bronze at the Asian Championship organised in Hong Kong. This year, he became first at the Kazakhstan Championship held in Atyrau. He is trained by honoured judo coach of Kazakhstan Kallen Kaliuly.
