Russia tops medal table as Dushanbe Grand Slam concludes
- Russia finished first at the Dushanbe Grand Slam on May 3, closing the three-day IJF event with 3 gold, 3 silver, and 6 bronze medals. - Final-day winners were Mansur Lorsanov, Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko, Fuchun Huang, Asya Tavano, and Jakub Sordyl, while Tajikistan ended second with 3 golds. - The result matters because Tajikistan’s home surge held up, but Russia’s depth across brackets still decided the overall table.
Judo tournaments can turn on one superstar. This one turned on depth. Russia left Dushanbe on top of the medal table after three days of competition, while host Tajikistan gave the home crowd plenty to celebrate with three gold medals of its own. The difference was the rest of the podium — Russia kept placing athletes everywhere, and that stacked up fast. (ijf.org) ### What actually happened in Dushanbe? The 2026 Dushanbe Grand Slam ran from May 1 to May 3 at the Kasri Tennis arena in Tajikistan, with 240 judoka from 34 countries. By the end, Russia sat first in the standings with 3 gold, 3 silver, and 6 bronze. Tajikistan finished second with 3 gold and 1 bronze, then Mongolia in third with 2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze. (ijf.org) the table? Basically, Russia won because it had medalists all over the draw. Tajikistan matched Russia in golds, but not in total podium finishes. Russia’s extra silvers and bronzes broke the tie comfortably, and that is usually how these Grand Slam tables get decided when two teams both hit big at the top. (ijf.org) final day belonged to the heavy categories. Mansur Lorsanov of Russia won the men’s -90 kg title. Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko, competing for the UAE, took women’s -78 kg. China’s Fuchun Huang won men’s -100 kg. Italy’s Asya Tavano won women’s +78 kg. Poland’s Jakub Sordyl took men’s +100 kg. (ijf.org)eally jumped out. Lytvynenko took her first Grand Slam gold at 22, and Euronews described her as the class act of the -78 kg field. Huang’s title mattered even more historically — he became the first Chinese man to win a world tour gold medal in nine years. Sordyl also grabbed his first world tour gold, which is a serious breakthrough in the heavyweight division. (euronews.com) ### What about Tajikistan? Tajikistan did not win the table, but the hosts still had a huge weekend. They finished with three golds, which is why the arena stayed loud right to the end. The home team’s champions came earlier in the event, and that gave the standings a very different feel for most of the weekend — less runaway favorite, more fight all the way through. (ijf.org) ### Why does the crowd matter here? In judo, atmosphere is not everything, but it changes the texture of a tournament. Dushanbe looked like one of those stops where the host nation gets a real lift — packed arena, big reactions, and local contenders feeding off it. That helps explain why Tajikistan stayed so visible near the top even without Russia’s overall depth. (euronews. ([ijf.org)close-dushanbe-in-style)) ### How strong was the field? This was not a tiny regional meet. The IJF listed 34 countries across three continents, with 240 competitors. That matters because a medal table from a field this size says something real about program strength — especially for Russia, which converted broad participation into 12 total medals, and for Tajikistan, which converted home momentum into three titles. (ijf.org) ### Bottom line? Tajikistan got the atmosphere and three home golds. Russia got the trophy-table win. In a Grand Slam, that usually means one thing — the hosts had the moment, but Russia had the deeper team. (ijf.org)
