From Friday to Sunday (June 3 – 5) the fourth Grand Slam tournament of the year will take place in Tbilisi, which will also be the last before the Olympic qualification for Paris in Ulaanbatar (MGL, June 24 – 26) at the end of June 2024 will be heralded. Judo Austria is represented in Tbilisi with a total of four starters, all of whom are already in action on the first day of the competition. The quartet – Lisa Grabner (-57/JC Wimpassing/Lower Austria), Katharina Tanzer (-48/SU Noricum Leibnitz/ST/4), Vache Adamyan (-60/LZ Vorarlberg) and Daniel Leutgeb (-60/LZ Multikraft Wels/ OÖ) – has a common goal: It is important to collect as many world ranking points as possible before the start of the Olympic qualification period in order to create the best possible starting position for the coming tournaments. A total of 281 judoka from 36 countries are at the start in Georgia’s capital. Local hero Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO/-73, Olympic champion, world champion and European champion) is the only world number one among the participants.
Katharina Tanzer, currently number 24 in the IJF ranking, appears in Tbilisi as number 4 in the category up to 48 kg. The competition is quite manageable: The top seeded Frenchwoman Melanie Legoux Clement (No. 9) is the only starter from the top 10 in the world rankings. For the 26-year-old Styrian it is the third Grand Slam this year and she is still waiting for the first points. The last sense of achievement was second place in Baku in November last year.
For 20-year-old Lisa Grabner (-57) and her teammates Vache Adamyan and Daniel Leutgeb (both – 60, both 21 years old), the World Tour (the general class) is still new territory. The first part of the goal: to secure a place among the top 100 in the world rankings – equivalent to this would be the right to start at the World Championships in Tashkent (UZB, October 6th – 13th).
“Our expectations are quite modest: Katharina (Tanzer) has only been competing in Grand Slam tournaments since last year, Lisa, Daniel and Vache have to gradually establish themselves in the general class. Every opportunity to start at the highest level is a valuable opportunity for them to gain experience and learn,” emphasizes ÖJV head coach Yvonne Bönisch. “We’re happy about every win and, of course, about every placement that would bring valuable points.” The draw resulted in consistently feasible opponents for Tanzer, Adamyan and Leutgeb (see below), Lisa Grabner gets it right at the start with the number 2 seeded French Priscilla Gneto, Olympic bronze medalist in London and Grand Slam winner 2022 in Tel Aviv.
A side detail: Olympic bronze medalist Shamil Borchashvili (-81/LZ Multikraft Wels/OÖ) has been training for two weeks with the Georgian national team, including Olympic champion Lasha Shavdatuashvili (-73), in Tbilisi. On Friday he will keep his fingers crossed for the red-white-red quartet in the hall.
Adraw for Friday, Grand Slam Tbilisi (GEO, 3rd – 5th June), 1st day of competition, women, -48 kg: Katharina Tanzer (SU Noricum Leibnitz/ST/4) meets Afnan Hakmai (KSA/Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) after a bye in round two, in the quarter-finals the number 5 seeded Brazilian Amanda Lima (No. 25 in the world rankings ) waiting; -52, 2nd round: Lisa Grabner (JC Wimpassing/Lower Austria) – Priscilla Gneto (FRA, seeded number 2, bronze medalist in London 2012, last Grand Slam winner in Tel Aviv in February 2022);
men, -60, 1st round: Vache Adamyan (LZ Vorarlberg) – Mohamed Falatah (KSA/Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), in the event of a win, none other than the top seeded local hero Lukhumi Chkhvimiani (GEO, world champion of 2021) would be waiting in round 2, Daniel Leutgeb (LZ Multikraft Wels/Upper Austria) – Irakli Kupatadze (GEO, No. 232 in the world rankings).
