His misadventure opened the doors wide for an outsider to rush into the breach, which Bilal Ciloglu (TUR) did with pleasure, at least until the quarter-final, where it was finally Adil Osmanov (MDA) who took the lead with an immobilisation and ippon after a beginner's error from Ciloglu.
In pool B we witnessed a waltz of favourites. Petru Pelivan (MDA) lost in the first round to Orlando Cazorla (FRA), who himself lost in the next round to Manuel Parlati, the cousin of Christian Parlati, the world number 6 at -90 kg. It was ultimately the Tajik Abubakr Sherov who escaped from the group unscathed after beating the Canadian Arthur Margelidon in the first round. The semi-final between Osmanov and Sherov finally turned in favour of Osmanov, already a winner in Linz a few weeks ago, who thus offered himself a first grand slam final.
In pool C it was once again an underdog, Rashid Mammadaliyev, who reached the quarter-finals and some time later the final by winning against Umalt Demirel (TUR). It should be noted that in the second half of the draw, the reigning world champion, Nils Stump (SUI), slipped away with a sudden waza-ari in golden score and to everyone's surprise it was at the hands of the Thai judoka Masayuki Terada. He delivered a stunning performance and finally finished in 7th place.
The final began between Adil Osmanov and Rashid Mammadaliyev and it was tense. Without his coach in the chair, Osmanov seemed a bit lost at the beginning and was scored against by waza-ari. As the contest unfolded he re-found his confidence and with Rashid Mammadaliyev already on the floor, he was still in a position to apply a proper throwing technique, which he did with a form of sumi-gaeshi for ippon. This was a first gold medal for Adil Osmanov in a grand slam, after his first gold medal in a grand prix a few weeks ago. That bodes well for the future of the 23 year old Moldovan.
The first match for a bronze medal was between Manuel Parlati (ITA) and Umalt Demirel (TUR). After 30 seconds of intense 'Türkiye, Türkiye,’ coming from the public, there was an effect on Demirel who scored a first waza-ari with uchi-mata. Using that momentum, he kept pushing and eventually pinned his opponent to conclude the contest that offered him his first medal in a grand slam. This is also a new medal for the host country.
It was Shakhram Akhadov (UZB) and Abubakr Sherov (TJK) who faced each other in the second match for a bronze medal. Things seemed quite closed, neither judoka being able to really launch dangerous or powerful attacks. With 2 shido apiece, it looked like golden score would be the chosen option, but no, it was not! Shakhram Akhadov jumped and executed a flying uchi-mata with only one step on his support leg that went deep inside to lift Sherov. Ippon! The bronze medal was for Shakhram Akhadov.
Final (-73 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-73 kg)
