Viktor Skerlev won bronze in China

Victor Skerlev won bronze at the Grand Prix Judo Tournament in Qingdao, China.

The Bulgarian competed in 6 matches in the 73 kg category, losing only once, in the quarterfinals to Russian Mahmadbek Mahmadbekov, who competes for the United Arab Emirates.

In the bronze medal match, Skerlev defeated Armenian Narek Vardanyan, competing for Sweden, by ippon, with the match ending in overtime after 10.15 minutes. This was also his longest fight in the tournament.

At the start, Victor defeated Maxime Robert (France), also with a gold point in 5.45 minutes, then Arun Kumar (India), and in the round of 16 he overcame the 19th ranked Justin Lemire (Canada) with an ippon in 1.46 minutes.

In the repechage, Skerlev also achieved success against Bilal Çiloğlu (Turkey), the bronze medalist of Euro 2026, with a yuko.

For the Bulgarian, this is the third medal this season in the men's category after the European Cup title in Sofia in January and the bronze at the Grand Slam in Mongolia a week ago.