Russian Adlan Bisultanov makes fresh start in Zagreb

Russian Adlan Bisultanov was a leading performer in Zagreb as he defeated Dutch Budapest Grand Prix winner Michael Korrel to win his third Grand Prix gold medal. Korrel could not make it two back-to-back Grand Prix gold medals as he was on the receiving end of a drop seoi-nage which was worth a waza-ari score and was caught with a ko-uchi-gari for a yuko with a minute remaining.

Tyumen Grand Slam silver medallist Bisultanov said: “With regard to Rio, I was absolutely ready but did not get the selection and I have no hard feelings because I was confident that Tagir Khaibulaev could win. Khaibulaev picked up a shoulder injury in Rio de Janeiro but we still all felt confident that he could do it. I was with the team in Rio as a training partner.

Bisultanov said, “I was pleased with all of my contests today. I managed to throw in each of them and I was looking to be positive against all my opponents. I was given a real boost when warming-up for the final and I heard the Russian national anthem being played for my teammate Alexander Grigorev  who won the U90kg category.” With regard to the Rio Olympics Bisultanov said, “I was ready for Rio but unfortunately I did not get selected. I trained with Tagir Khaibulaev and believed that he was a good choice. I was also with the team in Rio and enjoyed that experience very much.” As far as the future is concerned Bisultanov was excited when he said, “I am from Chechnya where we have a very strong tradition of success in judo. I’ll be fighting for my club in the Golden League competition to be held in Grozny at the end of the year.”

In the first semi-final Korrel saw off Dvarby by a waza-ari score in a nervy contest where both men had their share of scoring opportunities. In the second semi-final Ohat tried to put his hand down to block a hiza-guruma from Bisultanov but the Hungarian hurt his shoulder in the process and was unable to continue.

The first bronze medal was won by 21-year-old Tallinn European Open bronze medallist Laurin Boehler (AUT) as Ohat could not come out to compete having injured his shoulder in his last contest. Boehler had never been in an IJF medal contest before and will fight for medals at this level in the future the Austrian Judo Federation will believe. The second bronze medal was won by Dvarby who defeated former Moscow Grand Slam bronze medallist Milan Randl (SVK) after two and a half minutes of golden score with a seoi-nage earning a waza-ari score. Randl was a spent force in golden score while Dvarby pressured the Slovakian until the score came to seal a memorable debut at U100kg having moved up from U90kg.