Turkmen judoka Maisa Pardaeva, winner of the gold medal at the Qingdao Grand Prix and bronze at the Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam, will compete in the Grand Slam tournament in Lausanne, Switzerland, which will be held from August 28 to 30.

The Turkmenistan team will be represented at the competition by ten athletes – eight men and two women. Pardayeva will compete in the 57 kg weight class.

The 21-year-old athlete, a student at the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, has significantly improved her results this year. In July, she won a bronze medal at the 2026 Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam in Mongolia, beating 2024 World Champion and Paris Olympic silver medalist Ho Mi-mi of South Korea and Israeli European Champion Timna Nelson Levy en route to the podium.

At the Qingdao Grand Prix 2026 in China that followed the Mongolian tournament, Pardaeva won six consecutive victories and won the gold medal – the first in her career at such a tournament. In the final and semi-final, she defeated five-time Grand Slam winner Momo Tamaoki of Japan and Marta Fawaz of France by clear ippon in lengthy overtime.

Following her performances in Mongolia and China, Pardaeva earned 1200 International Judo Federation (IJF) ranking points. Both tournaments opened the qualifying cycle for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

"Winning a tournament of this level has always been my cherished dream... My main goal is to win a medal at the XXXIV Summer Olympics," the online newspaper "Golden Age" quotes her as saying.

The Grand Slam tournament in Lausanne will bring together 475 athletes from 67 countries. The competition will also make history as the first IJF World Tour Grand Slam to feature judokas with disabilities alongside the main competitors.

The Turkmenistan national team included: Ural Bakhtiyarov and Ygtyyar Gurbanberdiev (up to 60 kg), Serdar Rahimov (up to 66 kg), Meylis Shamuradov and Allamyrat Annagurbanov (up to 73 kg), Agajan Ayhanov and Batyr Merdanov (up to 81 kg), Baymyrat Majanov (up to 100 kg), Maysa Pardaeva and Medine Oraznyyazova (up to 57 kg).