There was palpable concern from the home crowd in the Kasri Tennis Arena in round 2, as Khojazoda appeared to struggle against world number 170 Blimgotov (BRN). It took him nearly six minutes to eventually take a tactical victory over the Bahraini. This turned out to be a false alarm, however, as the Hungary Masters 2023 silver medallist was just getting into his stride. He took his time again in round 3 against Shayakhmetov (KAZ), scoring waza-ari with a circling ko-uchi-gari with 25 seconds remaining, and running out the clock on the ground.
In the quarter-final he met Tbilisi Grand Slam 2023 gold medallist Erdenebayar Batzaya (MGL). Khojazoda dispatched the Mongolian confidently with a strong tomoe-nage, scoring ippon in the third minute of the contest. His semi-final opponent would be the unranked Mukhammad Jumaev (UZB). Like his teammates Vadjiev and Nutfulloev on day 1, Jumaev had displayed excellent attacking judo in his earlier contests, the highlight being a stunning uki-otoshi ippon against Jack Yonezuka (USA) in their quarter-final. Despite his impressive efforts, he was no match for the experienced Khojazoda, who threw him in the final minute with a crafty yoko-guruma for ippon as he himself rose from the ground.
Stump’s route to the final proved to be even more comfortable, as he defeated all of his opponents by ippon scores. In round 2 against Metellus (HAI), he threw with complementary uchi-mata and o-uchi-gari attacks to register two waza-ari scores. He faced home favourite Abubakr Sherov (TJK) in round 3, who had quickly beaten his two previous opponents. Stump dominated, though, and he launched Sherov for ippon with a tight ko-soto-gake to yoko-gake combination.
Stump scored twice in quick succession agains in his quarter-final with Azamat Kabisov (AIN), this time using uchi-mata and yoko-gake. A semi-final with Darkhan Koibagar (KAZ) awaited. Koibagar was ranked a distant 145th in the world at the start of the day but produced several good throws in the early rounds. It turned out to be Stump’s shortest contest of the day, as he threw the Kazakh fighter with his trademark hiza-guruma for a superb ippon in just over a minute. With that, Stump breezed into the final to set up a rematch with Khojazoda, who defeated him previously, en route to his Masters silver medal.
The final did not disappoint. Khojazoda was clearly saving his energy in the earlier rounds as he put Stump under intense pressure from the very first ‘hajime.' Despite getting out-gripped in the first half of the bout, Stump kept his composure and began to dominate the gripping exchanges in the latter half of the contest. With 20 seconds remaining, Khojazoda over-reached attempting a ko-uchi-gari and Stump countered to score waza-ari, transitioning straight into tate-shiho-gatame to hold the Tajik competitor for ippon. Despair for Khojazoda, a third grand slam gold for Stump.
Jumaev took on 19-year-old Enkhtur Jugdergarav (MGL) in the first bronze medal contest. The Mongolian looked self-assured throughout the day in what was his first senior WJT event but the match was over in just one minute. Jumaev countered an uchi-mata attempt from Jugdergarav to score waza-ari and transitioned to juji-gatame but the Mongolian escaped. His relief didn’t last long though because, in the following exchange, Jumaev then floored his opponent with a beautiful ko-uchi-gari from two sleeves. With that he earned himself a thoroughly deserved first WJT medal at only his second attempt.
The second bronze medal was decided between Batzaya and Koibagar. The contest was a cagey left versus right battle, with very few strong attacks from either player in normal time. The first big attack came in the first exchange of golden score, with Batzaya hopping in for o-uchi-gari but Koibagar countered with o-uchi-gaeshi to score waza-ari and snatch the victory. Koibagar earns a brilliant first WJT medal at the seventh time of asking.
Final (-73 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-73 kg)
