Eldar Allakhverdiev (IJF) faced Yahor Varapayeu (IJF) arrived at the central mat to fight for the first medal of the afternoon session in the Yunusobod Sport Complex. A tactical meeting ensued, neither competitor wishing to offer the other an opening but someone had to win and Eldar Allakhverdiev was clearly the more active of the two, applying tomoe-nage attacks and a more dominant gripping style than his opponent and so the bronze went his way after Varapayeu received a third shido in golden score.
Egor Malkin (IJF) wanted to join his teammate on the podium and walked into the arena with his Olympic champion coach, Arsen Galstyan, in front of an animated crowd. Their preferred victor was Nurbek Murtozoev (UZB) and they realised their wish as he countered with o-uchi-gaeshi after only 40 seconds of fighting. It was ippon! Murtozoev had his first ever grand slam medal and the drummers in the stands let loose to celebrate.
In the final of the -90 kg category, junior world number 1 Komei Kawabata (JPN) was set to face another Uzbek judoka, Shakhzodxuja Sharipov who had an outstanding morning, throwing number one seed Nemanja Majdov for ippon in their first exchange.
Standing in front of a strong Japanese opponent didn’t worry him at all and he attacked fast and well from the first ‘hajime!’ Both men are soi-otoshi experts bu in the first minute only Sharipov could find space for entries and Kawabata was penalised accordingly.
With just over a minute to go the Uzbek judoka attacked differently and scored a yuko with a well timed ko-soto-gake.
From there he didn’t reduce the pace at all. Kawabata was powerless against the young Uzbek who was boosted by his audience. The seconds ticked away and at last, Uzbekistan had their gold medal, their first of the tournament.
Final (-90 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-90 kg)
