Tal Flicker showcases perfect warming up for Budapest

Israelian Tal Flicker topped the U66kg category on Friday with a convincing win against Bucharest European Open silver medallist Alberto Gaitero Martin (ESP) in the final. The world number four, who won his first Grand Slam in March in Baku, finally clinched Grand Prix gold with a resounding win by ippon as he held down his Spanish opponent for 20 seconds having already produced two waza-ari scores.

Flicker is one of Israel’s leading medal hopes for the Worlds this year and based on this evidence has all the tools to trouble anyone at this weight and will likely start in Budapest from a seeded position.

In the first semi-final Baku Grand Slam winner Flicker defeated Pan American Championships bronze medallist Juan Postigos (PER) by a waza-ari while in the second semi-final Antalya Grand Prix bronze medallist Baruch Shmailov (ISR) was denied by a golden score waza-ari from Gaitero Martin.

The first bronze medal was won by former Pan American Championships winner Nabor Castillo (MEX) in the contest immediately following the gold medal win of Olvera. Castillo defeated Shmailov who was disqualified for attempting a bridge to try to avoid giving away a score. The London 2012 Olympian became Mexico’s first male judoka to win Grand Prix honours with a career-best performance as the volume continued to rise inside the Poliforum Benito Juarez as the home fans were now being spoiled.

The second bronze medal went to Postigos who registered two waza-ari scores without reply against Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist Andraz Jereb (SLO) to show the strength of Pan American judo by winning Peru’s first IJF World Judo Tour medal.