-81kg: Sagi, Sagi Muki!

But yes, heroes remain always with us and today the Israeli champion proved it. In each of his contests, we found the Sagi Muki we love, arriving quietly on the tatami, almost in slow motion, concentrated and precise, suddenly exploding in all directions, with o-soto-gari on the back leg coming from nowhere, or sode-tsuri-komi-goshi, the kind which only he manages to bring to an end.

In short, we found Sagi Muki, the Sagi Muki of the great days. In the other part of the draw, there was also an athlete whose ability to throw is well known and feared by his opponents. Vedat Albayrak (TUR) is not only a good technician but he is also a rock, difficult to move, especially for Sagi Muki, who likes to rely on the inertia of his opponents to develop his judo. The final, the last of the day, therefore offered a possible dream ending to the day.

For this last final of the day, suddenly the the silence was followed by a massive roar, while in the stands, 1000 lights started to shine to support Sagi Muki. The match was to be tense and complicated for both athletes, but only twelve seconds after the start, Muki launched a massive uki-goshi that Albayrak probably didn't see coming.

In less time than it is necessary to write it, in precisely twelve seconds, the Turkish judoka was on his back and ippon was announced. Sagi could stand up and show that he did it again and it was on his home soil. Sagi, Sagi Muki was chanting the crowd and they are probably still chanting while they go home.

Joao Fernando (POR) and François Gauthier Drapeau (CAN) battled for the first bronze medal. With a powerful o-soto-otoshi, François Gauthier Drapeau scored a beautiful ippon to take the bronze medal.

Timo Cavelius (GER) and Antonio Esposito (ITA) competed for the second bronze medal. Timo Cavelius produced a clever and perfectly placed sumi-gaeshi to score ippon for his bronze medal.