The final saw Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP) and Oleksii Yershov (UKR) step on to the tatami of the Zagreb Arena to rousing applause. Sherazadishvili, always patient, set the grips and set them again until he had them exactly right and then went for the seoi-otoshi, an unusual choice for one of the tall men of judo. It scored a yuko, one he would work hard to protect. A frustrated Yershov left with a silver medal, Spain claiming the top prize.
In the first bronze medal contest Darko Brasnjovic (SRB) faced debutant Tetta Hamada (JPN) and both judoka began in open fashion, moving across the tatami at quite some speed. Brasnjovic favoured a tomoe-nage and was close to scoring with it on more than one occasion but Hamada was able to scramble and save himself each time.
However, he had a wild style that delivered poorly prepared techniques, inexperience shining though. Before the final bell he accrued 3 penalties and gave the medal to the Serbian judoka.
The last medal of the category would go to either Alexandru Sibisan (ROU) or Piotr Kuczera (POL). The very tall Polish judoka used his range to unbalance and throw Sibisan 3 times, twice with well placed o-soto-gari techniques, each awarded a yuko. The Romanian was able to claw one score back but had to keep pushing forward, harder and harder. Kuczera was ready to defend his territory and caught Sibisan with an immense okuri-ashi-harai in the dying seconds of the contest.
Final (-100 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-100 kg)
