-81 kg: Javakishvili Collects Georgia's First Gold

The top seed and category favourite, Aleksandre Loladze (GEO) took an early hit after a bye and a win against Covi (ITA), losing on penalties to Musoev (TJK). This, without a doubt, opened the route to the final on the top half of the draw.

On the bottom half of the draw, the two fighters to watch were number two seed Igor Tsurkan (UKR) and Japan’s unseeded entry, Haru Akita. The former was eliminated in the round of 16 by Azat Kumisbay (KAZ) who fought with an incredible gymnastic ability in both attack and defence. Akita was also eliminated, in the round of 32 though, by Luke Davies of Great Britain, an expertly tactical win, much to the dismay of the Japanese coach.

With the top two and the Japanese out, there was no way to know who would reach the final block. Tajikistan, the host nation, had placed a warrior in the category, unknown to most with his world ranking at 326. Musoev fought from the heart, committed to making his crowd proud. He did indeed do that, all the way to the semi-final where he lost to the other Georgian, Luka Javakishvili. This was a step too far, Javakishvili throwing twice in just over a minute to book his place in the final. Musoev would fight for bronze though and his crowd would certainly be with him.

In pool C, having had a great run in the women’s lightweight divisions, China now placed a man in a great position as Jiangnan Wang passed the seventh seed on his way to a quarter-final with Kumisbay, which he also won. China would fight the semi final but against who?

Shukurov (AZE) is the current junior European Champion and knocked out former cadet world number one Mihajlo Simin (SRB) in round two and then after a tough contest, the Korean, Kim. 2022 EYOF champion Joshua De Lange (NED) met Shukurov in the quarter-final for a contest that was full of throws, huge attacks and great persistence.

In the first exchange De Lange threw for ippon but following a review it was changed to waza-ari and then it was Shukurov’s turn to take the reins. He threw twice in quick succession and put the Dutchman into the repechage.

In the semi-final, Shukurov was leading by waza-ari, making it look easy, but Wang (CHN) was still fully engaged, trying a seoi-otoshi which didn’t work but while Shukurov was adjusting his position, Wang went straight in for a ko-uchi-gake and scored ippon. Both Shukurov and his coach were in shock. He would have to refocus ready to fight for bronze and not gold in the final block. Wang was through.

In the first fight for a bronze medal, Yusufzoda (TJK), having had a great morning of winning against Ukrainian, Egyptian and American opponents, losing to Javakishvili in the quarter-final but winning his repechage final against Almeida (BRA), would face Shukurov. It was the Azerbaijani who scored first with an enormous pick-up but Yusufzoda followed it with almost holding Shukurov down. He couldn’t secure it though and they came back to tachi-waza.

Shukurov, not willing to leave without a medal, continued to dominate the gripping, no matter which solutions the Tajik athlete found and with just over a minute left he threw for ippon with seoi-otoshi.

In the second bronze medal contest, Kumisbay and Musoev fought it out; two medal contests for the home nation and the crowd were hoping for at least one medal. Azerbaijan had already taken one of the medals. Who would take the other?

It was a very close call, both athletes delivering a barrage of attacks but both missing some of the finesse needed to catch an opponent at this level. They amassed penalties, two apiece and began to look tired, unsurprisingly. However, Kumisbay found the sweet spot and threw the Tajik judoka for waza-ari in golden score with a seoi-otoshi, meaning Tajikistan would not have a medal on day 3. The Kazakh team could be proud of this hard-fought bronze medal.

The final brought different styles and no possible prediction of which would be superior. Wang offered the first attack but without a proper grip Javakishvili tried to grip around the back and Wang answered with a tai-otoshi, avoided again by the Georgian. Wang continued at a pace and dropped under with a seoi-otoshi for waza-ari. However, the next exchange and the gold were Georgia’s as Javakishvili took a deep cross-grip over the back and launched Wang with a soto-makikomi. This is Georgia’s first medal of the championship and finally places them inside the top five on the medal table.

This is Georgia’s first medal of the championship and finally places them inside the top five on the medal table.