Or Sasson snatches gold away from Meyer in Tbilisi

Paris Grand Slam runner-up Or Sasson won the spoils for Israel as he earned his maiden Grand Prix title in Tbilisi with a victory over Paris Grand Slam bronze medallist Roy Meyer of the Netherlands in the +100kg final. Sasson led their head-to-head series 3-1 going into the contest and extended it today with a yuko before both judoka exchanged shido penalties.

Meyer though was convinced he should have won as Sasson clearly grabbed the leg, which was showed in all slow motion in the feed. but a little after the event the Dutchman was able to relativate: “Silver with a little gold shine. Reset and up to the next moment. Life is not always about winning. Sometimes life drops you down so you can climb back up wiser and stronger.”

The winner Sasson was thankful for the gold medal: “It was the first time that I won the gold medal in a Grand Prix tournament which is very exciting, it’s an important for me. I thank first and foremost my family which is always there, and all coaches, personal trainers and the whole team around me and all fans and my sponsors.”

Sasson and Meyer have established themselves among Europe’s elite and will be full of confidence going into next month’s European Championships.

In the first semi-final Meyer thwarted Tyumen Grand Slam silver medallist Aslan Kambiev (RUS) as the latter was penalised twice for passivity which settled the scoreless contest.In the second semi-final Jeju Grand Prix bronze medallist Andrey Volkov (RUS) fell to Sasson after 22 seconds by a thunderous ippon-seoi-nage which booked a place in the final.

The first bronze medal went to Tyumen Grand Slam bronze medallist Maciej Sarnacki (POL) as Volkov could not compete due to injury. The second bronze medal went to London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Rafael Silva (BRA) after an insipid display from Kambiev who received four shidos after only two minutes.