RIO DE JANIERO, Aug. 11 (MNA) � Iran�s second judoka has been defeated by his Belgian rival only to be eliminated in the first match.


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.

By Mehr News Agency