Defending a Title is Harder Than Earning it

The world championships, no matter how experienced a judoka is, will always come with pressure, expectation and the need for a different level of focus. No-one is immune to the nerves or the power of an underdog.

At -57kg Rio 2016 Olympic champion and current world champion Rafaela Silva (BRA) has looked sharp and super strong in the lead-up to the Qatar meet, winning in Antalya just a few weeks ago and sitting at the top of the world but it was a young Turk from way down at 61 on the ranking list who put paid to any hope of a 3rd world title for Silva.

Bozturk’s osoto to seoi-nage was fast, unexpected and without any kind of hesitation. Facing an athlete of Silva’s magnitude would have shaken most but this 22 year old hit her adversary head-on and despite only a silver at the u23 Europeans as her best result so far, she obliterated the world champ and registered her first placing on the world stage. No-one will ever underestimate her again.

The -73kg world champion went the same way, losing to Dris (ALG) in the third round, an African champion but unknown on the World Judo Tour with just a 7th place from this year’s Tashkent Grand Slam listed on his IJF.org profile. He’s 21 and fearless!

A seoi-nage for waza-ari out the Algerian ahead of Tsend-Ochir (MGL) but the world champion evened it up. However, he couldn’t keep up with the pace of Dris, just seeming to be always second. Eventually the penalties accumulated and Tsend-Ochir had to accept that not only had he been thrown by a newcomer but he’d also been thoroughly outplayed.

Algeria and Turkiye are developing their young teams to have spirit and tenacity and to not fear anyone. These are traits which will serve them well in futures which could end up being highly decorated. The world champions need to take stock and remember what it takes to earn that backpatch. As Neil Adams so wisely said to us after the day’s judo was over, “It’s hard to earn a world title but defending one is on a whole different level.”