David Abrahamyan finishes 5th at the European Judo Championships in Tbilisi

Armenian judoka David Abrahamyan (66 kg) delivered a strong performance at the 2026 European Judo Championships taking place in Tbilisi.

The 23-year-old athlete confidently began the tournament with two victories over experienced opponents from Montenegro and Spain. However, in the quarterfinal, Abrahamyan lost to European and World Championships bronze medalist Luukas Saha (Finland).

In the repechage round, the Armenian judoka showed determination by defeating reigning European champion Daiki Bouba (France). Nevertheless, in the bronze medal bout, Abrahamyan was defeated by another decorated French athlete, Walide Khyar, finishing the tournament in 5th place.

Notably, this marked Abrahamyan’s return to international judo competition: since 2022, he had not competed in judo tournaments, focusing instead on sambo competitions.

On the first day of competition, Armenia’s other representatives — Vahe Aghasyan and Ashik Andreyan (both 60 kg) — were eliminated after losing their opening matches.

Artak Torosyan (73 kg) and Gor Karapetyan (100 kg) are still set to compete for the Armenian national team at the European Championships.