Things were looking good for Shamshadin in his opening contest against Nazir Talibov (AZE). The 27-year-old threw his Azeri opponent within 30 seconds using o-uchi-gari to score waza-ari. However, Talibov replied around the 2-minute mark with a low tai-otoshi to level the scores. The thrilling back-and-forth contest was ended 2 minutes into golden score when Talibov countered a soto-makikomi attempt from Shamshadin, taking the Kazakh fighter backwards to score ippon and send the home favourite home early.
Smetov was more clinical in his opening contests. He threw Rodrigo Costa Lopes (POR) in round 1 with a perfectly-timed okuri-ashi-harai to score ippon with 30 seconds remaining. In round 2 against Younes Saddiki (MAR) he scored waza-ari and later ippon with two rapid and low ippon-seoi-nage attacks to move into the quarter-final. There Smetov met the number two seed and twice grand slam winner Ramazan Abdulaev (AIN).
The Individual Neutral Athlete had just defeated Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2023 silver medallist Matheus Takaki (BRA), turning and holding the Brazilian using kata-gatame to score ippon in the final minute of their contest. This time Smetov couldn’t find a way into his favoured attacks and 30 seconds into golden score, Abdulaev caught him with a ko-uchi-gari which scored waza-ari, leaving Smetov dismayed.
Abdulaev went on to defeat Talibov in the semi-final. He led the contest by waza-ari from the first minute thanks to another ko-uchi-gari attack but Talibov was later disqualified for an egregious slam in the dying seconds of the bout as he desperately searched for a score. Smetov dropped down to the repechage to face Aybek Omirov (TKM). Another two low seoi-nage attacks served him well, scoring waza-ari and ippon to put the double Olympic medallist through to fight for a bronze medal.
On the other side of the draw, top seed Yung-Wei Yang was in excellent form and he used his superior ne-waza skills to turn over and hold each of his opponents on his way to joining Abdulaev in the final. In round 2 against Mendsaikhan Nyamsuren (MGL), he went ahead by waza-ari in the third minute thanks to a low seoi-nage, before reversing the Mongolian using his trademark sankaku turnover and holding with kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame to pick up his second waza-ari.
Against Andrea Carlino (ITA) in the quarter-final, his trusty turnover came in handy once more and although the Italian escaped an initial yoko-shiho-gatame, Yang quicy readjusted quickly and applied kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame once more to score ippon. Yang’s semi-final was against Ahmad Yusifov (AZE) and the Azeri became the latest victim of the Tokyo Olympic silver medallist’s ne-waza in the first minute of golden score, succumbing to the same turnover and hold as Yang’s two previous opponents.
The final in Astana was over in just 42 seconds. Abdulaev was the aggressor in ne-waza and applied juji-gatame to submit Yang and win his third grand slam gold medal. With this win, Abdulaev moves into a seeded position in the Olympic rankings.
Carlino defeated fifth seed Michel Augusto (BRA) in their repechage contest using soto-makikomi and with his would-be opponent Talibov disqualified from the event, the Italian earned a bronze medal, his first on the IJF World Tour and one that will see him overtake his teammate Angelo Pantano in the Olympic ranking list and put within reach of Olympic qualification.
Smetov took on Yusifov for the second bronze medal. The fight was closely contested in the standing phases but Smetov was able to dominate on the floor. He initially secured Yusifov in tate-shiho-gatame halfway through the match but the Azeri managed to escape within a few seconds. Undeterred, Smetov tried again in the following minute, this time securing a yoko-shiho-gatame which scored waza-ari. Yusifov escaped again, only for Smetov to reapply the hold and score a second waza-ari. Smetov earns his second grand slam bronze medal and keeps his Olympic dreams alive.
Final (-60 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-60 kg)
Final Results (-60 kg)
