Mongolia was one of the surprising countries at last weekend’s Asian Pacific champions held in Fujeirah in the UAE. Ts.Tsogtbaatar was the big man with gold U73kg. The finalist of the Grand Slam in Paris has been knocking on the door of the world’s best athletes for quite some time. His Asian title was a surprise win over World Champion An Chang-Rim.

The category U73kg was heavily occupied with some world class players. Ts.Tsogtbaatar is now 23 and has already competed at the Olympic Games in Rio. It wasn’t the only gold medal for Mongolia. Also L.Otgonbaatar defeated a Korean opponent in the final in U100kg. In addition, the gold U81kg for O.Uuganbaatar was strong in a weekend where all potential success was written on the account of the strong Asian nation. O.Uuganbaatar defeated Uzbek Sharofiddin Boltaboev in the final.

Three years ago in Tashkent, Mongolia had already captured four gold medals, the best ever performance at Asian Championships.