On Thursday, Javad Mahjoub faced Toma Nikiforov in the second round after an off draw in the first in men’s -100kg category. Nikiforov, the 9th seed of the world ranking was a difficult fight for Mahjoub who failed to secure a win and continue in the tournament among 34 judokas in his category.
Near the end of the match, Mahjoub was fighting for a win while he had been penalized more than his Belgian rival did. He was defeated by technical knockout only 4 seconds to the end of the match.
Iran’s first judoka Saeid Mollaei had also been eliminated on Tuesday by a Russian rival. Iran’s performance in judo has thus ended without any medals.
Mahjoub told reporters in Rio that he had been fighting for points against a rival which had been defeated by him by an Ippon; “I would regret the defeat, since he was not an impregnable rival and would be defeated as I had done before within 3 minutes,” he told reporters.
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