Toma does UAE proud

United Arab Emirates's Sergiu Toma celebrates after defeating Italy's Matteo Marconcini during their men's -81kg judo contest bronze medal A match of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

By Moni Mathews

Published: Wed 10 Aug 2016, 9:33 PM

Last updated: Thu 11 Aug 2016, 1:19 AM

When Sergiu Toma lost his semifinal bout against Russia's Khasan Khalmurzaev, one thought he was so close yet so far, again. Memories of his narrow miss in London four years ago, where he entered the last eight stage after a dismal performance in Beijing eight years earlier, must have flashed across his mind at the Carioca Arena 2 in Rio, on Tuesday.
He had to wait for another agonising two hours to know whether he would finally win an Olympic medal in his third appearance at the Games. Probably knowing the fact that this could be his last Olympics, he also had to wait to be told as to who his repechage opponent would be before he could try claiming a bronze medal. Further, Toma wasn't eligible to have his coach sit near the mat for the bronze bout due to a suspension for breaching the code of conduct for loud sideline advice during the semis. Things didn't look all that bright for a shot at the bronze.
There are two bronze allocations in Olympic judo as the repechage method allows the best losers in the quarterfinals to qualify for the playoff bouts where they meet the semifinal losers.
Finally as the clock ticked 20 minutes past midnight, Wednesday morning, the judoka created history when Toma gave the UAE only their second medal in Olympic history by pinning down (ippon) Matteo Marconcini of Italy in the first bronze medal bout in the 81kg category in Rio.
Gold in the category went to Khasan Khalmurzaev (Russia) who defeated the US' Travis Stevens in the summit round. Also winning bronze in Rio in the 81kg division was Japan's Takanori Nagase.
During the media interaction on Wednesday early morning, the calm and composed judoka, said: "I have gone through a long and tough path. I am most grateful and in a happy frame of mind that I cannot describe fully just now. I am so happy to win for the UAE, an Olympic medal after the country won gold in 2004. To all the leaders of the country, the coaches now and before, and all the officials at the federation, I pass on my biggest thanks."
The UAE's first Olympic medal came at the 2004 Athens Olympics when Shaikh Ahmed bin Hasher Al Maktoum struck gold in the men's double trap shooting event.