Damascus-SANA
Syrian judo player Suleiman Al-Rifai, like the rest of his teammates, aspires to win bright medals this season, despite their absence from the Tokyo Olympics.
Al-Rifai expressed his thirst for a strong presence in foreign tournaments to return to the podiums that Syria did not miss in judo during the previous years.
Al-Rifai said in a statement to SANA’s sports representative: “Despite our absence from the Tokyo Olympics, the most prominent event for world athletes, we will not miss any opportunity to achieve Syria’s shining medals in the upcoming foreign tournaments, and we are preparing vigorously within an intensive training program in morning and evening shifts for what awaits us.”
Al-Rifai added: Our preparations are heading towards the West Asian Championship, which is scheduled to be held in Jordan next October, and we will do our best to present an impressive skill performance and achieve the good results that we want to achieve.
On the level of local participation, Al-Rifai pointed out that he and the rest of the team players are preparing to participate in the Republic Championship during the next few period, followed by the Grand Prix Championship, which is a tournament of a highly competitive nature and will be open to all weights within different age groups.
Al-Rifai, 28, is currently competing in the 60-kg weight category. He previously won the gold of the Arab Sambo and Kurash Championships in Lebanon 2014. He achieved with the team many achievements, most notably the gold in the Arab and West Asian Championships in 2009 in Lebanon and the bronze in the Asian Championship in 2012 in China.
Mohammed Al-Rahil
