Dimitri Peters shows off with superb groundwork resulting in gold

Olympic bronze medallist Dimitri Peters ended Germany’s wait for a gold medal in Düsseldorf as Peters was untouchable on the ground as he gave a ne-waza masterclass on day three. "Dima" reeled off five wins by ippon in as many fights as he ensured the hosts could celebrate a fitting finale in one of their favoured categories.

Peters trailed to former world silver medallist Jose Armenteros of Cuba. It was Armenteros who scored first with a low left sided morote seoi nage for yuko. Peters kept changing grips and pressing forward and in his eagerness was caught again with morote seoi nage for yuko. But Armenteros was untidy in his finish and Peters pounced on the opportunity to engage the Cuban in ne waza where, despite the Cuban’s attempts to get to his feet, Peters applied jujigatame forcing Armenteros to submit.

In the first semi-final Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist Jorge Fonseca (POR) was defeated by Armenteros who scored a yuko with a ura-nage to win a high-quality contest between two names who are going to be -100kg contenders for the foreseeable future. In the second semi-final Peters expertly locked in a choke on world number 13 Adlan Bisultanov (RUS) as the home judoka won his fourth consecutive contest by ippon.

The first bronze medal was won by Bisultanov who increased his advantage over Olympic champion Khaibulaev who watched from the stands after withdrawing after the warm-up. Tyumen Grand Slam winner Martin Pacek of Sweden, who entered the arena having heard and applauded the Swedish anthem for his teammate Nyman, had won their only previous meeting but that was not a factor today. The Swedish judoka was negative throughout as he was first penalised for crushing the grip of his powerful Russian opponent and then a false attack on two occasions. Bisultanov used up time by being penalised with two penalties and had done enough for bronze. The second bronze medal was won by Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix bronze medallist Javad Mahjoub of Iran who spectacularly threw Fonseca for ippon after 51 seconds.