Tal Flicker ( he, טל פליקר; born 28 May 1992) is an Israeli

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

. He competes in the under 66 kg weight category, and won

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

s in the

2017 World Judo Championships The 2017 World Judo Championships was held in Budapest, Hungary, between 28 August and 3 September 2017 at László Papp Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary. The announcement of the host city took place on 23 March 2015. Medal summary ...

and the

2018 European Judo Championships The 2018 European Judo Championships were held in Tel Aviv, Israel from 26 to 28 April 2018. Medal overview Men Women Medal table Participating nations There was a total of 368 participants from 44 nations. References Exte ...

as well as a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the

2020 European Judo Championships The 2020 European Judo Championships were held in Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohem ...

. Flicker won the 2017 Baku Grand Slam, 2017 Cancún Grand Prix and

Abu Dhabi Grand Slam The Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour commonly known as the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam (ADGS) is a series of international Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments ( Gi and No-gi), taking place every year, organised by the United Arab Emirates Jiu-Jits ...

. In August 2017 he was ranked # 1 in the world in the U66 kg division.

Judo career

2011-16

In 2011, Flicker won the gold medal at the European Cup Under-20 in

Paks Paks is a small town in Tolna county, in the south of Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube River, 100 km south of Budapest. Paks as a former agricultural settlement is now the home of the only Hungarian nuclear power plant, which provi ...

, Hungary. He has won Israeli championships in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015. On June 1, 2013, Flicker won his first international contest as a senior after defeating Ivan Spirin from Russia in the final of the European Open

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. On September 12, 2014, he won a bronze medal in Zagreb Grand Prix, his first medal in a Grand Prix. In 2015 he won the European Open in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and won bronze at the Jeju Grand Prix, South Korea. He then won bronze at the 2016 Zagreb Grand Prix.

2017-present

On March 10, 2017, Flicker won the gold medal at the Baku Grand Slam, after defeating Tomofumi Takajo from Japan in the final, and won another gold medal at the Cancún Grand Prix three months later. In 2017 he also won the European Open in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, and won bronze at the

Düsseldorf Grand Prix The Düsseldorf Grand Prix originally called the Düsseldorf International was a men's tennis tournament played in Düsseldorf, Germany from 1968 until 1977. The event was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit The Grand Prix tennis circuit wa ...

. On August 29, 2017, Flicker won a bronze medal at the

in Men's 66 kg in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary. Flicker reached the semi-final where he lost to Mikhail Pulyaev of Russia, and then in the bronze medal contest he beat European champion

Georgii Zantaraia Georgii Zantaraia ( ka, გიორგი ზანთარაია; uk, Георгій Малхазович Зантарая; born 21 October 1987) is a Georgian-born Ukrainian judoka. Zantaraia is a candidate for the Kyiv City Council of ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

by a

waza-ari is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon'' or ''waza-ari'' contest, usually judo, karate or jujutsu. ''Waza-ari'' in judo A ''waza-ari'' is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in judo, the ...

. He followed in the footsteps of fellow Israeli Golan Pollack, who won a World Championships bronze medal in the U66 category as well, two years prior. He became the fourth Israeli man in history to win the bronze, the others being

Oren Smadja Shay-Oren Smadja ( he, אורן סמדג'ה; born June 20, 1970) is a former Israeli judoka and a judo coach. Smadja won the Olympic Games, Olympic bronze medal in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics, making him the first Israeli man to win an Olymp ...

, his trainer, and

Arik Zeevi Ariel "Arik" Ze'evi ( he, אריאל "אריק" זאבי, born 16 January 1977) is a retired Israeli dan 6 black belt in Judo. He had a long and successful career competing in half-heavyweight Judo competitions. He is an Olympic bronze medal fina ...

, who won in the open-weight category. In August 2017 he was ranked # 1 in the world in the U66 kg division. On October 26, 2017, Flicker won a gold medal at

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

after defeating world championchips bronze medalist Nijat Shikhalizada of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

with an

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In Judo In Judo, an ippon may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the four ...

. The

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

(IJF) had sent a letter to the President of the United Arab Emirates Judo Federation that instructed: "all delegations, including the Israeli delegation, shall be treated absolutely equally in all aspects, without any exception," and that the IJF statutes "clearly provide that the IJF shall not discriminate on the ground of race, religion, gender or political opinion." However, despite Ficker's win, and against the explicit instructions of the International Judo Federation, as they had done in the same event two years prior tournament organizers in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

refused to fly the

Israeli flag The flag of Israel ( he, דגל ישראל '; ar, علم إسرائيل ') was adopted on 28 October 1948, five months after the establishment of the Israel, State of Israel. It depicts a blue hexagram on a white background, between two horizo ...

or play the Israeli national anthem, despite the fact that it is customary to play the medalist's national anthem. In addition, instead of having "ISR" by his names on the scoreboard and on his back to denote that he was competing for Israel, at the insistence of the organizers "IJF" (for the International Judo Federation) was substituted. Oren Smadja said, after Flicker's victory: "I am very happy to be here - with a flag, without a flag ... to prove to everyone that it is impossible to stop the State of Israel." Arab and Muslim nations and athletes often boycott, or refuse to shake hands with, Israeli competitors. On April 26, 2018, Flicker took part in the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

and won a bronze medal in the under 66 kg weight category. In the first round he defeated Nathon Burns of Ireland by

, in the second round he defeated Vadim Bunescu of Moldova by ippon. In the quarter finals he lost to Adrian Gomboc of Slovenia. He went on to defeat João Crisóstomo of Portugal in the repechage and reached the bronze medal match where he defeated Marko Gusic of Montenegro by ippon.

Titles

Source:

References

External links

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Tal Flicker
at the

European Judo Union The EJU consists of 51 national Judo federations/associations, and is itself recognised by the IJF as one of five continental unions. The organisation of the administration of Judo is based on a pyramid system of regulations, with the IJF the wo ...