Aleskerov (AIN), De Angelis (LAT) and Hall (GBR) all fell at Battogtokh’s behest, Hall providing the biggest barrier when he went in aggressively on the ground hunting his signature turnover but it wasn’t to be. Hall’s repechage contest saw him go ahead by waza-ari but the unfazed Emirates athlete equalised and then doubled up in golden score, sending the Brit home after what could have been an outstanding performance.
On the bottom half of the draw, Margvelashvili respected the seeding perfectly, throwing Bouda (FRA), Demirel (TUR) and Kyrgyzbayev (KAZ) on his way to the semi-final. There he met Pashayev (AZE), unseeded but also uninhibited. The Azeri had removed both Spanish -66 kg fighters from their tracks as well as Piras (ITA) but the Georgian was a step too far and at the end of the preliminaries Pashayev had to resign himself to a third place finish at best. He would face Bayanmunkh for the medal but as he was unable to compete, the medal went to Bayanmunkh and to the host country.
The second bronze medal contest was attended by Kyrgyzbayev and Battogtokh, after Tilovov (UZB), seeded 5th, gave a more than credible account of himself against 4 worthy opponents, including the Mongolian who we had been following so expectantly. If the normal time was quite balanced, it took only a few seconds for Battogtokh to counter his opponent with a ko-soto-gari, combined with a brilliant change of direction that left his opponent flat on his back for ippon.
The final was set; the Georgian Olympic and world medallist was up against an Uzbek with just 3 World Judo Tour medals in his collection but no prior results could dictate the result of this grand slam final. Golden score began with one shido apiece, after a well balanced contest, which neither Tilovov nor Margvelashvili seemed to be able to lead. After exactly one minute of golden score, Margvelashvili slipped under his opponent with a sumi-gaeshi and a change in direction for a small but satisfactory waza-ari.
Final (-66 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-66 kg)
