European Judo Championships Preview U73kg: Rematch of Orujov vs Shavdatuashvili?

Three European medallist at the Olympic Games in Rio in the category for men U73kg, but no one could touch Shohei Ono, the star from Japan. Rustam Orujov came close winning the silver, as we can’t say he lost the Olympic title. Who will be the European Champion this year in Warsaw?

Lasha Shavdatuashvili, the former Olympic champion U66kg and last year’s runner up in Kazan is another strong man to compete with Orujov.

Rustam Orujov was European champion in Kazak. Rustam won the Grand Prix in Havana in 2016, Grand Prix in Baku (2012), Grand Slam Baku in 2013 and Grand Prix Tbilisi and Samsun, both in 2015. In 2015 he won silver in Paris, Düsseldorf and Abu Dhabi in 2016. Orujov was born in Ust-Ilimsk in Russia. He won a bronze medal at the Grand Slam in Baku in 2017.

Lasha Shavdatuashvili won the Olympic title U66kg in 2012 and took bronze U73kg in Rio in 2016. The Georgian judoka won European bronze in 2012 and the European title in 2013 U66kg. Switched to U73 and won medals in Düsseldorf and Tbilisi and won the Grand Prix Almaty. In 2017 he won silver at the Grand Prix Düsseldorf 2017.

Without Dirk van Tichelt who cancelled participation to recover from an injury, other judoka will stand up in Warsaw. Looking at the seeding list Sweden finally gives us refreshing input with Tommy Macias.

He won the Grand Slam of Abu Dhabi in 2016 and took bronze at the Grand Slam Tyumen in 2016. He won silver at the Grand Prix in Zagreb in 2016. Macias won Swedish titles in 2013 and 2014 U73kg. He won the Nordic title in 2014. He won a bronze medal at the European Open in Tallinn in 2016. He won bronze at the Grand Prix in Düsseldorf in 2017.

Strong Russian man Denis Iartcev definitely has medal chances. In Dusseldorf he showed how dangerous he can be beating Shavdatuashvili. Iartcev won the Grand Prix in Düsseldorf in 2017. He won a silver medal at the Grand Slam of Paris in 2016. Iartcev won the Universiade in Shenzhen (Student World Championships) in 2011 and European Games bronze in 2015. He won the IJF World Masters in Rabat in 2015. The number one for Russia 73kg. He finished 7th at the 2016 Olympic Games.

ORUJOV Rustam (AZE) 1. seed (1. place WRL)

SHAVDATUASHVILI Lasha (GEO) 2. seed (3. place WRL)

MACIAS Tommy (SWE) 3. seed (7. place WRL)

IARTCEV Denis (RUS) 4. seed (8. place WRL)

BUTBUL Tohar (ISR) 5. seed (10. place WRL)

HEYDAROV Hidayat (AZE) 6. seed (12. place WRL)

UNGVARI Miklos (HUN) 7. seed (13. place WRL)

MOGUSHKOV Musa (RUS) 8. seed (16. place WRL)