He ran off two straight victories over Germany's Oliver Gussenberg and Spain's Óscar Peñas in the prelims, before falling short in an ippon and a sumi gaeshi (corner reversal) throw to South Korean judoka and eventual silver medalist Jung Bu-kyung nearly two minutes into the quarterfinal match.

Donbay fulfilled his chance of reaching the bronze medal final on his Olympic debut, but nearly missed it in a defeat to Cuba's Manolo Poulot by a waza-ari awasete ippon and a seoi nage (shoulder throw) three minutes and forty-three seconds into their bout.

[5][6] When South Korea hosted the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, Donbay came up strong by chance for his first career medal in the 60-kg division, but had to satisfy with a silver in his final match against Iran's Masoud Haji Akhondzadeh.

[7] At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Donbay qualified for his second Kazakh squad in the men's extra-lightweight class (60 kg), by topping the field of judoka and receiving a berth from the Asian Championships in Almaty.

[8][9] Donbay opened his match with a swift ippon victory over Algeria's Omar Rebahi at fourteen seconds, before he suffered an astonishing defeat to Georgian judoka and eventual silver medalist Khergiani by a golden score draw.