Joanne Van Lieshout (NED) had a heartbreaking Olympic Games, arriving as the number one seed and with the world championship title in her pocket. It was a first fight loss, difficult to stomach.
She won her -63 kg world gold in Abu Dhabi in May and so this is a venue which will undoubtedly hold a special place in her heart. She’s back, the number one seed again. She’s also still only 21 years old and despite the result in Paris, she’ll have learned a lot and will be more ready than ever to contest all the major events of the Los Angeles cycle. She will be aiming at a new Abu Dhabi gold this weekend!
At -78 kg, Germany’s Anna Monta Olek will be the one to watch. During the Paris cycle, the 22 year old had to chase the country’s one and two, Wagner and Boehm, around the Tour, as they vied for Olympic selection leaving only limited event availability for Olek. Despite the challenging circumstances, Olek has collected 6 WJT medals already in her fledgling senior career and she’s back in Abu Dhabi for the launch of her LA28 campaign. Stopping her from claiming this weekend’s top prize will be a tall order for anyone.
In the men’s categories, Great Britain can be found with their medallists from the recent Zagreb Grand Prix, the first post-Games meet. Michael Fryer (-66) and Rhys Thompson (-100) claimed silver medals in Croatia following a difficult qualification period leading up to Paris. Great Britain didn’t manage to qualify a man for the Games, not even through the continental quota system, but they’ve bolted through the gates of the LA cycle looking to amend that record.
At -100 kg, the field is of particularly high quality with double world medallist Michael Korrel (NED) and world champion Adamian (IJF) both in play. In the category above, Olympic medallist (Tokyo 2021) Tamerlan Bashaev (IJF) leads the pack. The world number 6 will only have the gold medal in his sights in Abu Dhabi.
Despite all the experience mentioned, there are interesting names from the younger categories now appearing on the Tour. Twenty year old Debora Gjakova (KOS) is making her WJT debut in Abu Dhabi. Can she be the next Kosovan superstar? It will be interesting to see her compete at this level for the first time.
All the action, whether following the incumbents or the debutants, will be live on JudoTV. See you there!