Today was a special day for Israeli judo, one that saw the host nation stage the first ever Tel Aviv Grand Prix. It was a day that saw Israel pick up the first gold medal, an achievement topped only by the fact they then secured a second gold medal as if to emphasise the “dream come true” nature of the day.
Apart from the incredible emotions on display, the judo, in particular in the final block, was at times extraordinary. While the -60kg category (that ended on shidos), all the finals were exciting and ended with either a well executed waza-ari or a convincing ippon. Arguably the most exciting final to watch was the -57kg category final between Nelson Levy and MEZHETSKAIA where most of the crowd were on their feet or at least on the edge of their seats. MEZHETSKAIA had a day where everything was working for her and she showed considerable skill with her ashi-waza and koshi-waza. She was stopped after an attempted sasae tsuri komi ashi by a brilliant take-over from Timna Nelson Levy who with that unscripted move gave herself a dream gold.
Today saw some new youngsters give impressive performances with very mature judo. There were very few errors with kumi-kata. Jorre Verstraeten (BEL) and Gefen Primo (ISR) are good examples of that. One in particular that showed this maturity was Manuel Lombardo (ITA). The world junior champion simply didn’t make any mistakes and was able to make particularly good use of the force of his opponents. This is the main essence of judo, it’s all about action and reaction and you don’t have to be the strongest to come out on top. He sure is one to watch for the future.
Judo wise, the only one who could really be described as untouchable today was Maljinda Kelmendi. She showed that she is on the way back to her very best form, winning all of her fights with beautiful koshi-waza. Her strength, combined with her hip movements couldn’t be stopped today
Rio 2016 Olympian Stam is a multiple-time Grand Prix medallist and former European Championships silver medallist and fought internationally for the Netherlands and Georgia. The former -70kg judoka is now part of the IJF Judo for Children programme and is part of the IJF’s World Judo Tour broadcast team.