Highlights From the Preliminaries, Day 2

One of the biggest throws of the tournament so far came from Bulgaria’s Giorgi Gramatikov. His de-ashi-harai caught Naoto Izawa (JPN) so sweetly, it levelled him in mid-air where he almost hovered before hitting the tatami, completely flat. There was an audible gasp from the crowd and so the reply was repeated several times on the big screen. It was a thing of beauty!

Another stunning throw, one which brought the spectators to their feet, was the tomoe-nage of Croatia’s sweetheart, double world medallist Lara Cvjetko. In her -70 kg round of 16 contest against Kogan (ISR), she used both feet to lift and steered perfectly with her hands, so controlled that she rolled straight through her own back and finished the technique standing over her opponent. It was pure mastery. She didn’t make it to the final on this occasion, beaten in the quarter-final by Eme (FRA), but she will appear in the final block nonetheless.

There was the wild uchi-mata of Arnaud Aregba (FRA) in his opening contest, spinning Toth (HUN) high into the air. Aregba’s name has become synonymous with wild judo, the kind that energises a crowd and perhaps offers his opponents a little anxiety. It is an attractive style, loved by children, inspirational even. He is always one to watch. He made it all the way through the -81 kg draw and will face Bernd Fasching (AUT) in the final block.

Last but not least for this morning’s selection is the incredible anticipation of Nurkovic (MNE), feeling the entry of Dzitac’s (ROU) uchi-mata and avoiding it skilfully. In fact, he didn’t just avoid it, he used it as the base for his own ippon, a sukashi to be proud of. A bye, two wins and two losses left him in 7th place but it was an excellent outing!

The final block will begin at 5pm sharp in Zagreb and it promises to be entertaining. The judoka have set the bar high in the morning session and we can’t wait for the momentum to continue.