Ritsu Saito (taken on April 29, 2022)
◇ 6th ◇ Final day ◇ Budapest ◇ Men’s over 100 kg class
Ritsu Saito (21 = Kokushikan University), the 22-year all-Japan champion aiming for the Paris Olympics (Olympics) next summer, won the bronze medal.
Wins ippon against Yoon Jaegu (Korea) in the 3rd place match. Although they couldn’t get any points in the 4-minute main match, they won the golden score overtime. Twenty-five seconds into the rush, I threw it cleanly on his caster and dropped it off his back onto the tatami mat. There was no smile, and when we shook hands with each other, we bowed deeply and praised each other.
In the semi-finals, Martti Pumalainen (Finland) robbed Waza-ari in a seoi-nage and lost on top. He missed the second consecutive victory following the previous tournament (Jerusalem) in December last year.
From the first round, he won ippon with Ouchigari and uchimata, and in the quarterfinals he won the Tokyo Olympics silver medal Tusishvili (Georgia) by ippon. It was a disappointing loss because he had been winning steadily, but he switched and kept the minimum podium.
Shin Kageura (27 = Japan Racing Association) also lost in the semifinals. He lost by one to Temur Rakhimov (Tajikistan), who was ranked number one in the world and won the tournament. In the 3rd place play-off, he lost to Gela Zaarishvili (Georgia) and finished in 5th place.
It is a tournament where the world ranking top players compete, and the points earned are the second highest after the Olympics and the world championships. This year, he played an important role in the selection of the Japanese national team for the Paris Olympics.
After losing to the monster Teddy Riner (France) at the World Championships (Doha) in May, Saito lost to Kageura in the repechage match that started immediately. Kageura was 5th and missed out on the medal at that time, and although there was no direct confrontation, Saito, who was 3rd, once again extended his lead in the battle for the Paris ticket.[Jun Kinoshita]
2023-08-06 17:17:33
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