After a week of competition at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, two Arab countries are on the board with medals, all of them coming in judo.

Judo is a modern Japanese martial art and combat sport of grappling and throwing. It usually features a heated field of competitors.

Competitors are typically called judoka and wear a gi (thick, heavy robe) in competition that can be used in a variety of ways on both offense and defense.

The African nation of Algeria had two of its judoka gain medals in competition. Amar Benikhlef won the silver medal in men’s judo in the 90-kilogram division on Aug. 13, losing to Georgia’s Irakli Tsirekidze by a slim margin in the finals. Tsirekidze entered the match as the world champion from 2007 and the #1-ranked judoka in the world, but he was taken to the wire in a strong performance by Benikhlef.

The match culminated in a five-minute showdown that saw Benikhlef twist Tsirekidze around, but he was unable to score enough points in the end to take home the victory. Benikhlef won the most prestigious medal ever for a judoka from the continent of Africa with his silver medal. Benikhlef finished just 17th in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece and was just 36th in the World Championships of judo in 2007.

In the same competition, Egyptian judo competitor Hesham Mesbah took home a bronze medal with a win over Frenchman Yves-Matthieu Dafreville. It was Egypt’s first medal in the Olympics.

The other Algerian medalist, Sonya Haddad, finished with a bronze medal in the 52-kilogram women’s judo division. Haddad, who stands just 5-foot-1, was considered Algeria’s best hope for a medal going in.

French paper Le Temps described Haddad’s win as “an unprecedented achievement for African and Arab women’s judo.”

The news wasn’t as good for Sadam Ali, however. Ali, the first Arab American boxer to ever compete in the Olympics, lost on points in the men’s lightweight division to Romanian southpaw Georgian Popescu by a score of 20-5 on August 11.

The first round was close with the score 3-2 in favor of Popescu, but Ali was unable to put up much of a fight after that.

Ali, who is only 19 years old, got some important experience in the Olympics and is still considered to have a bright future ahead of him in competition.