The 29-year-old is an Olympics veteran, having competed at both Beijing and London for the country of his birth, Moldova.
However in Brazil, he is representing the UAE and has done the country proud by clinching bronze in the -81kg category. Toma was on song, defeating Brazilian Victor Penalber and Japan’s reigning world champion Takanori Nagase.
He gave a good fight to eventual gold medallist Khasan Khalmurzaev of Russia in the semi-final before losing the match.
Sergiu Toma's win
- Toma is ranked ninth in the world in the 81kg weight category
- Toma won UAE's second-ever Olympic medal
- UAE Olympics contingent has two other Moldovan-born judokas, Victor Scvortov and Ivan Remarenco
- The third round was his previous best effort at the games, in 2012
But he didn’t let his morale slip as Toma executed a sumigaeshi for ippon to seal a victory in the bronze medal match. It was an emotional moment for Toma, in what could be his last Games.
Toma’s exploits at the Carioca Arena 2 in Rio on Tuesday have added to the nation’s history at the Olympics and he was in tears as he celebrated a hard-fought victory in the bronze-medal match.