Grigorev shows off with second Grand Prix victory

Russian alternative Alexander Grigorev clinched his second Grand Prix gold medal by defeating the top seed and Budapest Grand Prix bronze medallist Li Kochman of Israel in the -90kg final. Grigorev was making only his third international start of the year but he looked in good condition.

The 21-year-old Kochman is one of Israel’s big hopes for this new cycle and that started well with a silver medal today as former Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix winner Grigorev, was unstoppable and wrapped up the gold with a thunderous osoto-gari earning ippon having already been in front by a yuko.

In the first semi-final Kochman edged past Oberwart European Open winner Ver Gabor of Hungary by a yuko. The resilient Hungarian blocked repeated pick up attempts from his Israeli opponent but could not threaten the scoreboard as it was Kochman who progressed. In the second semi-final Grigorev defeated European Championships bronze medallist Piotr Kuczera (POL) with arguably the ippon of the tournament with a sensational counter throw which can be seen of the IJF Facebook page and left fans, judoka and coaches purring in the crowd.

The first bronze medal was awarded to Kuczera after he bested German European Cup silver medallist Dario Kurbjeweit Garcia of Germany inside three minutes as he went ahead with a waza-ari from a ko-soto-gake and followed up on the ground with a juji-gatame to force his opponent to submit. The second bronze medal went to former Junior European silver medallist Max Stewart (GBR) who defeated Ver to win his first IJF World Judo Tour medal and his country’s third bronze medal in Zagreb. Stewart, who was coached by his father and Seoul 1988 Olympic bronze medallist Dennis Stewart, hooked the inside left leg of Ver for a modified uchi-mata for a superb ippon and the 23-year-old – who moved up two weight categories in the last Olympic cycle – looks to have found his ideal weight category.