Day 1: The Rise and The Return

Stojadinov back from the brink

It is almost two years to the day since Andrea Stojadinov (SRB) won her last IJF world tour medal, a bronze at the 2021 edition of this grand slam. Not only that, she went through the entirety of 2022 without a single international medal, the first time in her career she has experienced such a drought. 

She arrived in Tashkent with renewed spirit, however, after promising a friend that she would ‘fight for both of us’ after they sadly had to give up the sport for health reasons. And that she did, taking home her first grand slam gold, defeating Catarina Costa (POR) in a closely-contested final.

Ruziev belies his ranking to take bronze

One of the host nation’s two medal successes on day 1 came in the unlikely guise of 168th-ranked Doston Ruziev, competing for the 4th time at home on the World Judo Tour, with only a 5th place in 2017 so far to his name. Not to be deterred, the Uzbek fighter made a mockery of his ranking, dispatching number 1 seed Revol (FRA) in round 2 and making it through to the bronze medal contest with some impressive judo, only losing out to the favourite Kim (KOR) in the semi-final. He concluded his day by throwing 7th seed Bouda (FRA) for waza-ari deep into golden score, to the delight of his family watching in the crowd. With this medal, Ruziev stands to jump more than 100 places in the world rankings and with disappointing performances from compatriots Baratov and Bakhtiyorov, could this be the start of a late surge for an Olympic place?

Ballhaus breaks through into the big leagues

22-year-old Mascha Ballhaus has been continually climbing the world rankings since her first Tour medal in Paris in 2021 and she finally hit the big time in Tashkent today, taking home grand slam gold. She was an unstoppable force at -52kg, winning every single contest by a positive score, including defeating twice world champion Shishime (JPN) with a perfectly-timed o-uchi-gari in the final. Victory today will both boost her world ranking and cement her as Germany’s current pick for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Emomali makes superb first mark at senior level

20-year-old Nurali Emomali (TJK) is on quite the upward trajectory. He made his first international appearance in Tashkent last year, at the Junior Asian Cup in April, where he won a modest bronze medal. Only a few months later, he became junior world champion, beating all but one of his opponents by ippon. And today, on his return to Tashkent, he took his first grand slam medal and a gold at that, at only the second time of asking. He won all 5 of his contests by ippon, including beating three of the four Uzbeks in the category. To say his future is bright would be an understatement.

Tamaoki is top tier once again

Such is the strength-in-depth of the Japanese team, it is easy to forget how dominant the 2nd, 3rd and even 4th-ranked fighters in the country can be on the world stage. Momo Tamaoki returned to the World Judo Tour to remind us of that very fact, putting in a workmanlike performance to breeze past her 4 opponents in the -57kg category. In the final she used a textbook turnover and half-guard pass to pin Liparteliani (GEO) and ensure Japan topped the medal table after the first day of competition. With teammates Funakubo and Yoshida leading the race for Olympic qualification, this win puts Tamaoki squarely in the running.

Catch all the action and all the big stories from day 2 of the competition in Tashkent at live.ijf.org.