World Ranking in Judo updated: Yeldos Smetov takes 1st place

The International Judo Federation (IJF) World Ranking has been updated after the World Championship in Astana, Tengrinews reports.

Yeldos Smetov earned 900 points after defeating another Kazakhstani Rustam Ibrayev at the World Championship. This brought Smetov to the first place in the ranking in the -60 kg weight division. Smetov has 2162 points in total. He is followed by a South Korean judoka Won Jim Kim (2150) and Orkhan Safarov (2034) from Azerbaijan.

Ibrayev, the winner of the silver medal took the 7th place in the ranking. Yeldos Zhumakanov (-66kg) earned 180 points after losing the bronze in Astana. Zhumakov currently is on the 23rd place. Zhansay Smagulov did not participate in the World Championship but retained the 26th place with 639 points.

Dastan Ykybayev (-73 kg) earned 4 points in Astana. The judoka landed on the 40th place in his weight division. Aziz Kalkamanuly (-81 kg) got the 57th place after earning 72 points. Islam Bobayev (-90 kg) earned 72 points too. He is on the 34th place.

Maxim Rakov (-100 kg) retained his place in the top 10 after earning 72 points. The heavyweight (+100 kg) Yerzhan Shynkeyev is on the 46th place.

Among women, Alexandra Podryadova (-48 kg) earned 108 points and landed on the 25th place. Lenariya Mingazova (-53 kg) took the 26th place with 606 points. Albina Amangeldieva (-78 kg) got 33rd place while Gulzhan Isanova (+78 kg) ranked on the 17th place.

The World Ranking List is considered for the qualification system for the Rio Olympic Games. There are 352 qualification places allocated for the 2016 Olympics. For men, the first 22 athletes in the IJF World Ranking from all seven-weight divisions qualify for the Olympics. Among women, the first 14 judokas from all seven-weight divisions qualify for the Olympic games. The remaining 100 qualifying places will be allocated via Continental Qualification.

By Gyuzel Kamalova