Vazha Margvelashvili grabs gold in Dusseldorf

European champion Vazha Margvelashvili followed up on his Paris Grand Slam bronze medal with Grand Prix gold in Germany. The gritty Georgian conquered 21-year-old Kodokan Cup winner Isoda Norihito (JPN) in the final. Isoda was a Cadet World Championships silver medallist in 2011 in a Japanese team which also included the likes of Tokyo Grand Slam winners Nagayama Ryuju (JPN) and Asahina Sarah (JPN).

Isoda worked his way through to the final without raising any eyebrows but his coach always had complete faith in his judoka as former world silver medallist Kanamaru Yusuke was already in his suit – a requirement only for the final block – from the opening contest on Friday morning. World number 10 Margvelashvili sealed gold after nine seconds of golden score with a waza-ari from an uchi-mata as he hunts down top spot on the World Ranking List.

In the first semi-final Isoda pinned down Zagreb Grand Prix silver medallist Baruch Shmailov (ISR) for 20 seconds and ippon via a mune-gatame hold. In the second semi-final three-time Grand Prix bronze medallist Tal Flicker (ISR) was overwhelmed by Margvelashvili who scored three waza-ari without reply. The Georgian opened with a waza-ari from a hip throw and, as there is no longer waza-ari-awasette-ippon, added a second and third with his uchi-mata for a place in the U66kg final.

The first bronze medal was won by Flicker who beat former Budapest Grand Prix bronze medallist Sergiu Oleinic (POR) by two scores. Flicker found his scoring touch in the final block as he threw on two occasions for waza-ari scores while Oleinic could not trouble the scoreboard.

The second bronze medal went to former world bronze medallist Kamal Khan-Magomedov (RUS) who launched Shmailov with an emphatic o-goshi for the maximum score and bronze at the first Grand Prix of 2017.