Billed as a historic meeting, the IJF state Israel’s Moshe Ponte wanted to thank his counterpart Bin Thaloub Al Darei and Naser Al-Tameemi, the United Arab Emirates’ Judo Association general secretary, for the hospitality shown to his team.

The meeting took place on World Judo Day, an event marking the birthday of the sport’s founder Jigoro Kano.

The IJF claimed the UAE officials apologised for their athletes’ refusal to shake hands with judoka from Israel.

It was also claimed they congratulated Ponte on Israel’s success at the event after they earned one gold and three bronze medals.

Israel’s judokas have been competing under the IJF flag in Abu Dhabi as the UAE do not recognise the country.

When Tal Flicker won gold in the men’s under 66 kilogram event on Thursday (October 26), he sang Israel’s national anthem Hatikvah while the IJF’s played in the IPIC Arena.

This controversy previously arose in 2015 at the IJF event, while Israel withdrew from that year’s World Youth Sailing Championships in Malaysia due to a similar row.

Vizer believes progress has been made in recent years by the IJF in breaking down barriers and praised the two Federations for their courage in meeting today.

"Sometimes with courage, respect and politeness, you can solve tensions and conflicts, which have not been solved since many decades," he said.

"I consider, that even without the flag and anthem of Israel, that their team have been treated very well with high respect during this event.

"Two years ago, we achieved the first participation of Israel team in Abu Dhabi, now it’s the second time, but with a much better approach and I hope in the near future we can achieve the best conditions of participation for the Israel teams.

"Such delicate issues between countries, governments and nations cannot be solved overnight and cannot be solved through the sport immediately.

"In the last years the IJF has made a lot of work and important steps for the participation and recognition of the Israeli team in countries like Morocco and Emirates and I hope soon we can break down more barriers for more tolerance between countries and nations to express the real value of the sport, friendship unity and solidarity."

History was also made on the tatami on the final day of competition as Natalie Powell became the first British judoka to top the world rankings.

Powell prevailed in the under 78-kilogram final when her Dutch opponent Marhinde Verkerk received three shido penalties, giving the Briton victory and the number one ranking.

Verkerk’s team-mate Guusje Steenhuis and Brazil’s Mayra Aguiar secured the bronze medals in the division.

The Netherlands’ Tessie Savelkouls triumphed in the women’s over 78kg competition after her opponent Iryna Kindzerska of Azerbaijan received three shido penalties in the final.

The result saw Savelkouls add to her gold medal at the Baku Grand Slam earlier this year.

She was joined on the podium by Brazilians Beatriz Souza and Maria Suelen Altheman following their triumphs in the bronze medal bouts.

In the men’s under 90kg division, Georgian-born Nikoloz Sherazadishvili secured gold for the Spanish team by beating Beka Gviniashvili.

Sherazadishvili was awarded an ippon score against his Georgian rival following a dominant display during the bout.

Azerbaijan’s Mammadali Mehdiyev and Canada’s Zachary Burt won the bronze medals.

Russia’s Niiaz Bilalov claimed a Grand Slam title for the first time in his career as he clinched an ippon win over Toma Nikiforov, although his Belgian rival had earlier seen a match-winning score cancelled by a video review.

Kirill Denisov continued Russia’s success by winning the first bronze medal on offer before Israel’s Peter Paltchik added to his country’s medal tally after claiming the final podium spot.

France’s Cyrille Maret made the step up to the men’s over 100kg division in style, seeing off the challenge of Maciej Sarnacki by holding down his Polish opponent for an ippon.

Or Sasson of Israel and Anton Krivobokov secured bronze medals.

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