-48kg
Beder of Turkiye thrilled the home crowd by writing her name on the first gold medal of the day. It’s an understatement to say that the anthem was well received and with a crowd including local school children all waving their nation’s flags, it was a fantastic way to open the final block.
We also congratulate the silver medallist in this category, fresh from winning a silver at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Slovakia just two weeks ago, 18 year old Konul Aliyeva (AZE). She really grew in stature today, fearing no-one and working hard to take her place on this senior stage.
-60kg
Jumayev’s (TKM) semi-final against Aghayev (AZE) was a perfect example of judoka with the desire to win, the skill to entertain and the humility to inspire. It was a shame one had to lose and that was Jumayev, who has shown great throwing ability throughout the preliminaries. His sense of fair play and clear concern for the welfare of his opponents was great to see. His mistake in the last 30 seconds of that semi cost him a place in the final but he was a worthy candidate for a bronze and he did finish the day on the podium.
-52kg
Kadamboeva (UZB) won her bronze by a single waza-ari at the end of a day throughout which she was strong, robust and always looked to be hunting for the victory. This was characteristic of the whole Uzbek team. Her teammate, Keldiyorova, as predicted, made her way to the final to meet Iraoui (MAR) and won with a slick armlock to take the gold. Two Uzbek flags rose in this category and it wasn’t a surprise.
-66kg
The first bronze went to Kodzhakov (BRN) with an early score backed up by a huge uki-goshi as the final blow. This is the first judo medal for Bahrain at these Games and teammates in the stands looked very satisfied indeed. The second bronze went to Agamammedov (TKM), who advanced to the podium, leaving behind a compatriot to settle for 5th place.
The final was won by Uzbekistan’s Nurillaev, already a grand slam medallist 4 times and experienced all the way up to Olympic level. He beat the only African Judo Union representative to make it to the final block in this category but Morocco’s silver medal was entirely in keeping with the seeding.
-57kg
The semi final between Dabonne (CIV) and Ermaganbetova (UZB) at -57kg was an extremely close match, with dynamic judo throughout. Dabonne is 43rd on the WRL and her Uzbek counterpart sits at 45th. The former is 7 times an African continental medallist and has 6 medal-free appearances at the world championships. Her experience is undeniable. Ermaganbetova has the benefit of being from a strong judo nation and carried a 2018 Youth Olympic medal in her kit bag, less experienced but very well prepared. Eventually the latter took the win but it wasn’t until the final minute that the cracks in Dabonne’s game appeared.
Dabonne went on to win a bronze with a hard-fought waza-air earned on the ground. The other bronze was earned by home girl Irem Korkmaz, cadet world champion in 2015 but with nothing much registered since. She gave a little jump for joy with this win and smiled throughout the awarding ceremony as if the gold were hers; lovely to see.
The Uzbek youngster was applauded and supported by her whole team including Iliadis and this team spirit seemed key to her success. Her gold medal, won over Halata (ALG) was never doubted by the Uzbek team and it appears to have given the judoka herself a boost in confidence, exactly as it should.
-73kg
Njie of Gambia is in full travelling mode at the moment, having own silver at the Commonwealth Games only a week before Konya 2021 launched. In Turkiye he wasn’t quite so dazzling and finished in 5th place after a loss in the bronze medal match against Demirel (TUR), buoyed by the crowd. Valiyev (AZE) won the other bronze.
The final was an epic encounter between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, old rivals and friends. Mirzayev (AZE) and Akhadov (UZB) were firmly in their rhythm, a high tempo one that was exciting despite going into extra time. Two shido apiece, accumulated steadily through the contest, looked likely to force a penalty-based victory and indeed it did. Congratulations to Shakhram Akhadov for adding another gold medal to the Uzbek treasure.
-63kg
It was a great pleasure to see two African nations in the final block, with Etoua Biock of Cameroon and Faye of Senegal each fighting for a bronze medal. The latter was beaten convincingly by Isolova (UZB) but Etoua Biock and Dashkinova (TKM) endured a back and forth match including an early shime-waza attempt from the JUA athlete. Cameroon’s judoka was impressively resilient throughout, avoiding the submission there and later from what looked like a guaranteed armlock. In tachi-waza it wasn’t so one-sided and at full time the board showed two shido each. Both looked unaccompanied to this length of contest, struggling back to the start-line at each ‘mate’ and inside the first minute of golden score Etoua Biock stepped out of the contest area to earn a 3rd shido, offering her opponent the medal.
The final was a whole different level, fought between Belkadi (ALG) and Ozerler (TUR), the former a three-time African champion and the latter sitting at 186th place on the WRL with no senior results to her name. This gold would certainly have meant a lot to the local competitor but it wasn’t to be. A well-placed sode-tsuri-komi-goshi from the Algerian brought the day to a close with a new national anthem.
The medal table at the end of the first day gave a pretty strong indication of the level of team Uzbekistan brought to Konya. Four of the seven gold medals went to them but the overall spread of medals included ten countries, 4 nations from the African continent.
As a final note, Turkmenistan have been doing the leg work to develop on the international circuit for a long time, investing in travel and exposure. There are rarely medals on the World Judo Tour but at this level the investment and effort are paying dividends. There were three medals for their team in Konya and some happy faces on the rostrum.
Day two begins at 11am local time with the 3 remaining women’s categories and the 4 heaviest men’s groups.