As expected, Casse reached the final of the men’s -81 kg category. Khasan Khalmurzaev (AIN) was unable to handle the pressure from the top seed and committed three errors after the fight went into golden score. Khalmurzaev, an Olympic gold medallist from Rio 2016, has been inactive on the circuit for a while and was not seeded in Tashkent. However, the manner of the loss was what surprised the fans. Nurbek Murtozoev (UZB) was their hope but he was also not able to keep up with Casse and bowed out after being dominated. Casse then earned a waza-ari win against Mykhailo Svidrak (UKR) in the quarter-final.
Having strategised his way past one Olympic champion, Casse had even more work to do against the reigning Olympic champion from the Tokyo Games in 2021, Takanori Nagase (JPN). Impressively, Casse did the job well, Nagase accumulating penalties in favour of the Belgian’s win.
Second seed Shamil Borchashvili (AUT) began the day with an ippon win over Victor Sterpu (MDA). An osae-komi in golden score brought the Austrian another ippon, against Khikmatillokh Turaev (UZB) in the round of 16. Seventh seed Sagi Muki, a world champion himself in recent years, tried his best to stop Borchashvili in the quarter-final but was disappointed to receive three shido warnings.
Fifth seed Nagase was pitted against Bolor-Ochir Gereltuya (MGL) first and it was an osae-komi win needed to take past the Mongolian. He then started with a waza-ari against Muso Sobirov (UZB), who had been warned twice already by that point. With time left on the clock, Sobirov received a third shido, making it easier for the Japanese judoka. A golden score ippon against fourth seed Vedat Albayrak (TUR) followed before he lost to Casse in the semi-finals.
A seoi-nage helped Omar Rajabli (AZE), the surprise semi-finalist of the day, against Agajan Ayhanov (TKM) before the Azerbaijani earned a waza-ari win against Sharofiddin Boltaboev (UZB). Rajabli had a fantastic tournament in Baku two weeks ago, taking home a silver medal. Here in Tashkent he was determined to show that it wasn’t simply a home ground anomaly. Another upset in the category came thanks to Rajabli, who shocked third seed Attila Ungvari (HUN) with a pin in the round of 16. The quarter-final saw him beat Abylaikhan Zhubanazar (KAZ) by ippon. He would therefore go on to fight for bronze, after getting three penalties against Borchashvili in their semi-final.
In the end, Rajabli did not get that fairytale medal. Up against Svidrak, the Azerbaijani was caught by surprise at times, with Svidrak getting a waza-ari. He did not have to do much after that as Rajabli also accumulated penalties.
Nagase was playing the waiting game against Zhubanazar (KAZ) in the second bronze medal match. The Kazakh judoka did not want to go for an ippon and kept making errors, trying to outclass the Japanese. In the end, the resilience and experience of Nagase won him his second bronze medal in Tashkent.
Casse and Borchashvili began the final in a balanced fashion, with both prepared to go all the way. Casse was attacking while the Austrian was looking to pounce on the first mistake from the world number one but that did not happen as Borchashvili succumbed to the immense pressure from the sensational Belgian. It was a lengthy match as expected, with the match going into golden score. Six minutes and 31 seconds later, Casse sealed the deal.
Final (-81 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-81 kg)
