Nineteen year old Jhonathan Benavides (ECU) has no reference on the World Judo Tour but arrived in Budapest with a senior Pan-American championship medal and the title of junior continental champion. What an experience this is for him, to compete at a senior worlds among the very best. A result should not have been expected but everyone has the possibility to give their best and anyone can win in judo; this will always be true. His first contest was against seeded athlete, Olympic and double world medallist Yang (TPE); it shouldn’t have lasted long at all. The Ecuadorian, though, fought without hesitation or fear and took Yang into golden score, anticipating every move and finding his path out of danger. There, in extra time, he applied a stunning ko-uchi-gari and saw the yuko scored by the referee. Neither athlete could believe it! His day did not continue past the next round but what a great moment for the teenager; less so for Yang!
Csanad Feczko (HUN) gave the home supporters an unbelievable moment too as he knocked double Olympic medallist Luka Mkheidze out of the competition. The experienced Frenchman put himself in danger by attacking with a seoi-otoshi that wasn’t placed well and didn’t include the kuzushi required and so Feczko capitalised, countering for ippon. He then lost to Mkheidze’s team mate in the quarter-final but he made it to the last 8, unexpectedly.
Ryuju Nagayama (JPN) is certainly frustrated by his lack of gold medals, coming to Hungary for that colour and no other. However, the rest of the field was unwilling to make it easy for him. He arrived as the number two seed to face Yusifov (AZE) in the second round, the first contest for both men. The Azerbaijani was more than ready though and threw Nagayama with kata-guruma off the first grip, placing a waza-ari on the board almost as soon as the fight had begun. He couldn’t hold on to it though, being punished for his fear, 3 penalties for 3 false attacks, one per minute for the remainder of the time. Although Nagayama was under great pressure and was making mistakes, he stayed composed and moved forward in the draw.
Magzhan Shamshadin (KAZ) was next to face the Japanese athlete. He also came out to throw and although it didn’t happen straight away, he was first to log a score, a yuko from a makikomi just past the halfway point. Nagayama had a lot of work to do to get back into the led but he did it, making space for an incredibly fast seoi-otoshi, enough to get the job done.
Shamshadin had just defeated world champion Garrigos in order to line-up his meeting with the Japanese, throwing him with a shocking tai-otocshi in just 9 seconds.
Garrigos out, Mkheidze out, Yang out! Sardalashvili (GEO) was also out, losing to Hungary’s second competitor in the category, another relative unknown, Marton Andrasi. He went on to lose to Augusto (BRA) in the quarter-final stage but in the repechage he beat Shamshadin, the very same judoka who almost put Nagayama out of the running. What a morning for Hungary!
Final
Romain Valadier Picard (FRA) vs Ryuju Nagayama (JPN)
Bronze medal contests
Yolk Kazirbyek (MGL) vs Michel Augusto (BRA)
Marton Andrasi (HUN) vs Ayub Bliev (IJF)