Asley Gonzalez books first victory since 2013 World title

If the popular Idalys Ortiz was the most awaited Cuban athlete today, the 2013 World Champion, Asley Gonzalez, had also the full support of his public in a category which was particularly strong. Number two seeded, Gonzalez was expecting to meet Toth Krisztian of Hungary in the final, which is what actually happened. The 2014 World silver medalist went through the preliminary rounds without shaking.

Apparently the two men know each other, but despite their friendship, they both went on the tatami with the desire to win. The first throwing attempt came from Toth, but that was perfectly blocked by the Cuban, who then launch a powerful left handed drop-seoi-nage which put Toth off balance but once again for no score. After an unsuccessful yoko-tomoe-nage attempt, the Hungarian was penalised with a shido. With a lot of experience, then Gonzalez controlled the end of the final. Stuck on the edge of the fighting area, the Cuban was about to step out, which would have given him a shido, but very strategically he launched an attack to avoid the shido. The smallest point difference was enough to designate the winner, Asley Gonzalez, who proved all his experience in such a kind of fight. Both athletes had a big smile at the end. They both knew that they gave everything and they mutually raised their arms under the hurrahs of the public. For Gonzalez it was his first victory since the World title in 2013 in Rio. In 2015 Gonzalez won five silver medals in Edmonton, Cluj, Toronto, Qingdao and Tokyo.

With the final seeing the two top seeded athletes competing for gold, only another seeded athlete, Aleksandar Kukolj (SRB) was able to enter the final block for bronze. He was opposed to Cheng Xunzhao (CHN) in the second bronze medal fight. The first bronze medal contest saw Ciril Grossklaus (SUI) and Quedjau Nhabali (UKR), trying to find a spot on the podium.

The first bronze medal fight started with a slow pace, as Grossklaus and Nhabali were trying to test each other but then Nhabali was penalised a first time with a shido, which was actually enough for the Swiss to win the bronze.

In the second bronze medal contest, Kukolj was the first to attack for no score, but a few seconds later he was able to score a yuko with a ko-uchi-gake. Apparently being weak on his back side, Cheng was again spectacularly thrown by Kukolj for a second yuko as he landed on his side. The third yuko for the Serbian came from a left-handed uchi-mata with two minutes remaining on the scoreboard. The question was, will Cheng Xunzhao be able to resist until the end the attacks of his opponent as Kukolj continued to have a very positive attitude throughout the bout. The answer was yes, but both athletes delivered a really beautiful fight.