Paris victory by An Chang-Rim brings Korea back U73kg

An Chang-Rim put Korea back on the map U73kg. Back to domination of this category where Wang Ki-Chun won in Paris in the past and even Gui-Man Bang in 2014. However this performance of An was special, it was a show in the best judo venue on earth. Despite the strong Japanese An persisted and showed he's a candidate for Olympic gold. Korea is completely back in judo.

The final of the day in the men’s U73kg weight category saw top seeded world bronze medallist An Changrim (KOR), facing World Judo Masters winner Denis Iartcev of Russia. A first shido was given on both sides for blocking the opponent, just before Iartcev launched the first powerful attack with a uchi-mata. But without the sleeve, the Russian could not really control the movement for no score. An and Iartcev were perfectly neutralising each other until the South Korean could finally launch the now famous Korean-style-reversed-seoi-nage for what looked as a clear ippon. But the referee saw that the landing was not completely on the back and therefore offered only a waza-ari to An, which was enough to secure the gold though.

In the first semi-final An Changrim (KOR) surpassed 2015 Paris Grand Slam winner Akimoto Hiroyuki (JPN) with an ippon seoi-nage for the maximum score having led after 57 seconds with a waza-ari from a reverse seoi-nage. In the second semi-final Abu Dhabi Grand Slam bronze medallist Sagi Muki of Israel bested Denis Iartcev by a yuko and waza-ari as one of the best performers in the opening session.

The first bronze medal was won by Europan Games winner Sagi Muki who beat double world champion and Olympic silver medallist Nakaya Riki (JPN). Muki threw beautifully with a sode-tsurikomi-goshi for a yuko as Nakaya tried to bridge but landed heavily on his shoulder. The Japanese fighter held his arm as he came back to his feet but was not able to continue and the contest was awarded to Muki who went on to wait for his opponent at the field of play exit to check on his injury. The second and last male bronze medal fight of the first day of competition in Paris opposed the 2015 World Master silver medallist, Nugzari Tatalashvili (GEO) and the 2010 world champion, Akimoto Hiroyuki (JPN). For breaking the grip, Tatalashvili was penalised with a first shido. Less active than Akimoto, Tatalashvili was penalised with a second shido, but a little while later it was the turn of the Japanese to be penalised. But despite those shido, the less that can be said is that both competitors put a lot of effort to try to score but unsuccessfully. At the end, it is the shido difference that offered the bronze medal to Akimoto.