Only the Korean Lee Hyekyeong stopped her this Friday. Laura Espadinha (ESBM Judo), unstoppable until the final, produced the French performance of the day as well as a personal performance which marked a tremendous acceleration. Until now a medalist at the European Open level – a silver medal – the -48kg tricolor, with her ashi-waza, will have crossed her table with great technical authority: o-uchi-gari against the Slovenian Marusa Stangar (head of series n°4 this Friday) or o-soto-gari in thirty seconds against the Uzbek Khalimojon Kurbonova, third in Baku in February. In the final, Espadinha constantly tried to put her right hip in front of the Korean’s. If the latter adopted the same tactic, mid-fight, the Asian surprised everyone by going behind the Tricolor to launch a very dry ura-nage. Ippon. A little dazed, the projection was well validated by the supervisors of the arbitration commission, within which we noted the return of Juan Carlos Barcos, boss of world arbitration from 2007 to 2016.
If Espadinha is and will remain the only French female ranked of the day, Richard Vergnes (JC Chilly Mazarin-Morangis), fifth in -60kg will be the only French male in the first seven. The Frenchman who will balance between satisfaction and frustration. Satisfaction because the twenty-nine-year-old Frenchman, five-time bronze medalist at the French championships, will have beaten some good people: the Uzbek Doston Ruziev, 20th in the world and winner of the Tashkent Grand Slam recently, or the Azerbaijani Turan Bayramov , world n°13. Frustration, because there will be two defeats in the semi-final and fight for bronze, against the Israeli Yam Wolczak then the Dutchman Tornike Tsjakadoea – defeater of Enzo Jean (Stade Bordelais) in the table.
A Friday where the five medals go to five different countries. So what is there to note? First, in -57kg, the Deguchi/Klimkait duel continues with the surprise defeat of the second, reigning world champion, against the Slovenian Kaja Kazer on a left uki-goshi, in the quarter-final. Tonight, Klimkait is in silver, Deguchi finishes in bronze.
In -66kg, totally unexpected victory for the Russian Ivan Chernykh, a twenty-three-year-old judoka not ranked on the senior ranking list. His last international competition? The Russian Junior European Cup in February 2019! Two victories on penalties against the Georgian Vazha Margvelashvili and the Uzbek Sardor Nurillaev, 21st in the world.
The organizing country? Just one medal! She’s feminine… but made of gold! The work of Eteri Liparteliani which, to everyone’s surprise, except that of the Georgian public – ebullient and knowledgeable – who beat Jessica Klimkait on an uki-waza after the end of the first minute.
2024-03-22 15:33:34
#Grand #Slam #Tbilisi #Espadinha #excellent #surprise
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