Technical Analysis, Day 3: the Learning Continues

“Here, in the middle of a number of the Balkan countries, the athletes are known for strong judo and powerful play. Today we have seen big pick-ups and a lot of driving seoi-nage and seoi-otoshi techniques. There is a good mix of new and more experienced, older judoka and that really instructs the dynamism. Variation in the draw almost always provides variation and explosively in the contests. For many the experience showed but this wasn’t the case everywhere, for example, the -78 kg category was peppered with high level juniors and they really put the senior world and continental medallists under pressure.

It wasn’t just the athletes who arrived fresh, new to the environment; we also saw new coaches being excitable in the chairs beside the tatami and some needed warnings but we all need to learn as we scale up to new levels and this is no different for coaches. Getting the right feeling at this level can take time and education must remain a permanent feature of our sport.

There were a few good kansetsu-waza attacks today which were managed well by the referees. Far fewer shime-waza attempts were seen than on previous days but perhaps that is not significant as we still had willing and determined ne-waza across the categories.

Fonseca looked good today, explosive. We can always expect something from him. The final was an exciting refight for spectators, with him facing 2021 world silver medallist Kukolj (SRB), whom he beat in 2021 in Budapest. It was a reversal of result today but either was capable of winning the Zagreb title.

The very experienced Hungarian, Toth, proved to be too experienced to let the young ones come at him too much. He’s happy to wait for the right moment in a fight, even conceding the occasional shido in preparation for placing a well-timed score in the board. He is a master at this.

The last point is that there were some golden scores, especially at -100 kg and -90 kg but most really deserved the extra time, working hard and with the right intention throughout. We do seem to expect those golden scores to perhaps finish with penalties but many finished with positive scores, which is excellent; it is what we want. I should mention, while we are thinking somewhat about penalties, that there have been a couple of head diving incidents, with some still not absorbing the right emphasis, the necessity to maintain the right posture all the way to the finish, avoid any potentially unsafe actions.”

Zagreb now has a short time to recoup as although the grand prix has come to a close, in just 3 days the world’s best cadets will step forward in search of new crowns, competing at the 2023 Cadet World Championships. JudoTV remains your faithful servant and will deliver all the action coming from our cadets just as it has been steadfast for the 2023 Zagreb Grand Prix.