The international sport of judo is coming together in Tbilisi this weekend. The next Grand Slam tournament will take place from Friday to Sunday in the Tbilisi Sports Palace in the capital of Georgia.
In the women’s super lightweight (up to 48 kg), Korea’s Hyekyeong Lee defeated France’s Laura Espadinha with a ura-nage to win the gold medal.
In the men’s category up to 60 kg, Nurkanat Serikbayev met Yam Wolczak in the final. Serikbayev used a sacrificial technique and ultimately won via a waza-ari near the end of the fight. For Serikbayev it was the first competition in Tbilisi. “He was successful, which makes me very happy,” said the 21-year-old Kazakh afterwards.
In the women’s light lightweight division, Ariane Toro Soler and Ana Viktorija Puljiz faced each other in the final. It took until the golden score, but Toro Soler mustered the strength to finally secure the gold medal with an uchi-mata.
And she was happy about this afterwards at the microphone and about “how nice it is to see that people love this sport”.
Ivan Chernykh won in the men’s light lightweight division – in his first appearance on the IJF World Judo Tour.
Then came the moment that all Georgian fans had been waiting for: In the women’s lightweight category, up to 57 kg, the heavy favorite Eteri Liparteliani made it to the final. There she met former world champion Jessica Klimkait from Canada.
To the delight of the crowd, Liparteliani scored early and then fought until time ran out.
The Georgian team was able to give its fans a lot of joy on the first day of judo. We are already looking forward to day two on Saturday.
2024-03-22 21:46:36
#Georgia #secures #gold
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