Top seed Kukolj triumphs as Serbia dominates the category

Serbian number one Aleksandar Kukolj turned his top seed status into the top prize in Abu Dhabi as Serbia won half of the U90kg medals on offer. Kukolj, Baku Grand Slam silver medallist, posted a new personal best as he defeated Almaty Grand Prix winner Axel Clerget (FRA) in the first gold medal contest in Sunday’s final block.

The two vastly-underrated judoka were separated by a waza-ari for Kukolj from a tani-otoshi before the Serbian trapped down his French opponent with a kesa-gatame before eventually settling into a mune-gatame for 15 seconds and the gold medal.  

In the first semi-final Baku Grand Slam silver medallist Aleksandar Kukolj (25) defeated Glasgow European Open winner Max Stewart (GBR) by ippon in a one-sided contest as the Serbian was on form to confirm his place in the gold medal contest. In the second semi-final the skilful Clerget defeated former Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist Hannes Conrad (GER). Neither man backed down an inch in the battle for grips as the Frenchman won a hard-fought contest by scoring a yuko and trapping his German rival in a kuzure-kesa-gatame hold for 20 seconds.

The first bronze medal was awarded to 2012 Baku Grand Prix winner Tural Safguliyev (AZE) who won the opening contest of the final block against Conrad. The Azeri broke the deadlock with a yuko from an ippon seoi-nage - with half of the contest gone - which IJF Hall of Famer Yamashita Yasuhiro even applauded in the front row. Safguliyev was penalised with a shido for going out but had already done enough to narrowly capture his first Grand Slam medal.

The second bronze medal went to 20-year-old Junior European Championships winner Nemanja Majdov (SRB) who defeated Stewart. Majdov, who moved up from U81kg to U90kg at the Zagreb Grand Prix in September, showed that decision and timing was inspired as he won the first Grand Slam medal of his career at his first attempt in his new weight. The Serbian fighter scored a yuko with 47 seconds remaining as he countered the ashi-waza of Stewart and that score separated the young talents after five minutes.