Soichi Hashimoto surprises with golden groundwork

Soichi Hashimoto showed a great transition on the ground when he defeated Ganbaatar Odbayar in the final by a rare armlock. Perfect ne-waza with a slow flying juji and pulled the right arm of Ganbaatar into an armlock.

Hashimoto won hold at the European Open in Lisbon in 2014 when we didn’t know him, but he won the Grand Prix of Qingdao in 2015 and became Asian champion which delivered him precious points to compete in Guadalajara. Non seeded he managed to impress with beautiful judo and good groundwork. He defeated Sainjargal and Muki and qualified for the final via Orujov. Odbayar was also a surprise as he defeated An Changrim in the quarter final. An couldn’t fight his bronze bout against Rustam Orujov who captured bronze with a simple bow. He wasn’t too fit himself anymore as well. Denis Iartcev impressed as well with a superb match against Sagi Muki. The Russian completely surprised Muki by a change of direction and immediately caught Muki in a hold down. Iartcev really showed himself as a potential Olympic medallist in Rio.

Profile Hashimoto

Soichi Hashimoto won the IJF World Masters in Guadalajara in 2016. In 2014 when we didn’t know him he won the European Open in Lisbon. He won the All Japan Championships in 2015 and the Kodokan Cup in 2015. Hashimoto took gold at the Grand Prix in Qingdao in 2015. Great innovative groundworker.