One of the most anticipated match-ups from the preliminaries was the first-round contest at -73kg between Tel Aviv Grand Slam winner Stump (SUI) and triple grand slam medallist Oyoshi (JPN). The fight was almost over before it began however, as the Swiss fighter dispatched his Japanese opponent in just 40 seconds. Stump took a grip around the back and Oyoshi responded by circling his arm over the top to try to take his own outside grip. Stump used this kumi kata transition to start circling his opponent, pulling him up onto his toes, before placing his foot on Oyoshi’s knee and directing him onto his back with a silky-smooth hiza-guruma. The Japanese judoka didn’t know what hit him.
Stump himself was on the end of one of the best ashi-waza combinations of the day, performed by 2022 Asian champion and eventual silver medallist Shamshayev (KAZ). The two right-handed fighters engaged in a 50-50 battle, with both gripping over the top of their opponent. However, Shamshayev managed to bring Stump’s tsurite down and wasted no time with it, attacking directly with o-uchi-gari before quickly switching to ko-uchi-gari and eventually planting the Swiss player onto the back of his shoulders from a great height.
Elsewhere, Agathe Devitry (FRA) produced some very easy-on-the-eye ashi-waza combinations which helped her take 5th place at -63kg. In round 2 against Oberan (CRO), a ‘double-stab’ de-ashi-harai swept the Croat off her feet for a waza-ari and in the third round against Tang (CHN), she attacked thrice in quick succession, first with ko-uchi, then with o-uchi and finally ko-uchi-gari again to score another good waza-ari for the win.
Two of the home nation’s players displayed some excellent ashi-waza at -81kg en route to meeting each other in the second bronze medal match of the category, giving the home crowd plenty to shout about. Number 3 seed Sharofiddin Boltaboev produced a couple of nice sasae-tsurikomi-ashi scores on his way to beating Gnamien (FRA) in round 2 and Zhubanazar (KAZ) in the repechage, both times hugging his opponents tightly and pulling strongly on their right sleeves to assist with tripping them up. His teammate Sobirov, produced some even more impressive ashi-waza. First there was a thumping o-uchi-gaeshi against Mohamed (EGY), followed by a spinning ashi-guruma with an under-arm grip against top seed Schimidt (BRA). In an unfortunate twist of fate, he himself was caught with o-uchi-gaeshi by Ungvari (HUN) in their semi-final.
The theme of day 1’s technical analysis was reversal, referring largely to the medal-winners’ use of renraku-waza, or combinations of techniques in opposing directions, and this trend continued on day 2. Many of today’s medallists used uchi-mata, either alone or as a combination, with dramatic results. Magdiel Estrada (CUB) took a solid bronze medal at -73kg, first throwing Tai Tin (SAM) with a beautiful uchi-mata in round 1. In his repechage match against Demirel (TUR), he again attacked with uchi-mata but when the Turk threatened to take him backwards, he quickly switched to o-uchi-gari to take his opponent off their feet and direct them onto their back.
World champion Megumi Horikawa (JPN) dominated the -63kg category with a combination of strong ashi-waza and clinical ne-waza. In her quarter-final against Ivanescu (ROU), she too attacked with uchi-mata repeatedly, forcing a response from the Romanian. Eventually the Japanese player switched to the rear, hopping and following her opponent to the ground with another slick o-uchi-gari. In the final, she made light work of her adversary Awiti Alcaraz (MEX), throwing twice in quick succession with that traditional uchi-mata.
Ashi-waza techniques are often neglected in favour of bigger, more dramatic turning throws, which can often lead to the stylish work making way for power and reducing the beauty, with some athletes trying to force those techniques instead of utilising their opponent’s reactions, to change the throwing direction, for example. Thus, it has been refreshing to see not only the prevalence of ashi-waza but also the willingness of the athletes to continually combine attacks and successfully reverse the throwing direction at this grand slam.
What will the heavyweights bring to the table on day 3? And can Uzbekistan overtake Japan in the overall standings? Find out, as always, by watching at live.ijf.org.