The beginning of the competition proved him right, since Lima advanced in the draw by eliminating all his opponents one after the other. The first was Juan Hernandez (COL) before Abderrahmane Boushita (MAR) and Murad Chopanov (AIN). It just remained to face Baruch Shmailov (ISR), currently ranked a distant 37th place in the world, but who is remembered for his victory during the Jerusalem World Judo Masters in 2022. Shmailov represented one step too many for the Brazilian judoka who let go of his luck.
We also underlined that in the absence of the big names of the moment in this category, there were places and points to be taken and this was very promising for today's competition. Among the judoka we were looking at, there were four Uzbeks but only one reached the final block: Sardor Nurillaev would compete for bronze. The winner of last year's Masters, Ryoma Tanaka (JPN), was a possible bet but after a loss against future finalist, Shmailov, he had to bow out again in the repechage.
Eventually the second half of the draw was dominated by Nurali Emomali (TJK), already a winner in Tashkent last year. It was therefore a final between two underdogs that allowed the public to rejoice, between Baruch Shmailov (ISR) and Nurali Emomali (TJK).
After a rather balanced first half of the contest, Nurali Emomali scored a first waza-ari with a counter-attack, taking a strong lead. While the clock was ticking, Shmailov was also penalised twice, putting him in a difficult situation. When both judoka were penalised for avoiding gripping, Shmailov seemed a bit surprised to be disqualified but it was actually his third penalty. The gold medal was for Nurali Emomali, won in front of Ismoil Mahmadzoir, President of the Tajikistan Judo Federation, who will soon welcome the World Judo Tour.
The first bronze medal contest saw two individual neutral athletes, Murad Chopanov and Yago Abuladze, competing for a spot on the podium. Knowing each other very well, the two judoka went into the contest at full speed with Chopanov scoring a first waza-ari using a ura-nage. A few seconds later, Abuladze equalised with the same technique. With 20 seconds remaining, Abuladze launched a last attack but clearly used his head on the floor and was disqualified leaving the bronze medal for Murad Chopanov.
The home crowd still had one chance of a medal with Sardor Nurillaev (UZB), opposed by Willian Lima (BRA) who was hoping this time to step up onto the podium. At more than two minutes into golden score, Lima seemed a step behind, having two shido to his name. Nurillaev was controlling but could not score and eventually it was Lima who nabbed the bronze medal with an opportunist’s counter-attack for waza-ari. It was a disappointed Nurillaev but a happy Lima who this time reached the podium.
Final (-66 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-66 kg)
