It was therefore in a supercharged atmosphere that both the elimination phase and the final block of the day took place for the women -48kg and -52kg and for the men -60kg and -66kg. We were not disappointed as the level practised by the champions of the day was high and truly up to the expectations of the event.
France was no doubt hoping to repeat the feat of the first day, but they had to settle for Kelvin Ray’s silver medal, to mention only the best result. They do remain on top of the medal table, for now. On the other hand, we saw Japan reappear, absent from the final block on day one, with Kano Miyaki winning gold at -48kg. Italy, with Gaia Massimetti, also slipped into the top three nations. It was Georgia who made the best deal of the day with the gold medals of Davit Kareli and Saba Samadashvili. Georgia is now second in the nation ranking.
After two days of competition, 17 countries are now medallists, while 29 of them have already reached the final block, showing the universality of the sport.
The third day of competition promises to be just as exciting with four new categories to follow: W-57kg, -63kg and M-73kg, -81kg
Follow the competition live from 10:00am at https://live.ijf.org/