There were many victories, clear, undisputed and precise but to say that it was easy would be an exaggeration because all his opponents, from Vugar Talibov (AZE) who scored a first waza-ari, to Theodoros Tselidis in the semi-final, including John Jayne (USA) and Alex Cret (ROU), did not make it look easy for him.
Despite everything, the Olympic champion was able to find systematic solutions of his own, in a style made of relaxation and improbable attacks but terribly effective ones. What is certain is that the show was there for the greatest pleasure of all. Bekauri was able to play it up when coming off the tatami each time, urging the public to encourage him even more.
As the competition unfolded, we could remember a new very good performance from Theodoros Tselidis (GRE), winner in Tashkent a few weeks ago and who only failed against Bekauri during the semi-finals. The Greek is making his mark and becoming an interesting outsider for this summer in Paris.
With all the attention focused on the top of the draw, the qualification of Eljan Hajiyev (AZE) went a little more unnoticed, although it was interesting to follow. It is important to emphasise that at the start of the day Hajiyev was not one of the names circulating for a possible medal, since he was not part of the top 8 but this should not have been the case because let's remember that in February Hajiyev was already a finalist in a grand slam; it was in Paris. Gold this time? The task promised to be difficult.
It was said that the final would not reach the end of normal time and this is exactly what we saw. Two athletes at the top of their form engaged in a terrific battle, which was eventually won by the Olympic champion with a tremendous o-soto-gari, using unorthodox gripping. It was unorthodox but so efficient. Ippon! Bekauri is back and ready to defend his title this summer in Paris.
The first match for a bronze medal pitted the two Koreans Sungho Lee (KOR) and Juyeop Han (KOR) against each other. The domestic battle was decided by penalties in golden score, when Lee was penalised a third time, giving the victory to his teammate Han.
Robert Florentino (DOM) and Theodoros Tselidis (GRE) competed for the second bronze medal. Robert Florentino clearly dominated the contest, Theodoros Tselidis having difficulties to breathe as the pace was really high. But in judo we know that only one action can change everything and this is exactly what happened. With his very low seoi-otishi, inspired by Sagi Muki himself, as Tselidis explained after his victory in Tashkent, he scored a waza-ari that he could keep until the final gong to win a second medal in a row. Pretty impressive!
Final (-90 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-90 kg)
