Sultoni Kabir to sponsor Tajik judoka Mohammad Abdurahmonov

DUSHANBE, October 4, 2011, Asia-Plus – Dushanbe-based limited liability company, Sultoni Kabir, will sponsor Tajik judoka Mohammad Abdurahmonov.

An appropriate agreement on this subject was signed between Sultoni Kabir and Tajikistan’s Judo Federation here on October 4.

The Sultoni Kabir top manager Avazkhon Kabirov noted that they would allocate 30,000 somoni to Mohammad Abdurahmonov for three months this year.  “If Mohammad Abdurahmonov gets good results, we will support him in the future as well,” Kabirov noted.

Mohammad Abdurahmonov with 126 scores is ranked 49th among 180 internationally known judokas in -100kg category.

He is one of possible contenders for the London 2012 Olympics.

There are 14 judo medals available at London 2012, involving seven weight categories for both men and women.  Each nation can qualify one athlete per event.

Qualifying in judo is based almost entirely on the world ranking list prepared by governing body the IJF on May 1, 2012.

For each men's event, the top 22 athletes in the rankings (abiding by the one-per-country rule) all directly qualify for the Olympics. For the women, that number is 14 athletes.

Importantly and unusually among Olympic sports, each qualification place earned goes directly to the judoka, not the country.  So a judoka earning a place at London 2012 keeps it - it cannot be assigned to another athlete by their governing body.

After this first phase of qualifying, the ranking list is again used to qualify the next-best athletes on a continental basis.

Each continent - divided up as Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Pan-America - gets its own continental ranking list of judoka who have yet to qualify.

This list is used to add 25 more entrants from Europe, 24 from Africa, 21 from Pan-America, 20 from Asia and 10 from Oceania.  However, in this phase, only one athlete per country can qualify across all weight categories and both genders.