Beslan Mudranov takes silver medal for Russia at opening day

Paris Grand Slam winner Ganbat Boldbaatar (MGL) made history for his country as he won Mongolia’s first men’s -60kg world crown against European champion Beslan Mudranov (RUS). Ganbat, who finished fifth a year ago, was a different fighter today as he found his rhythm and his judo flowed.

Both judoka were tentative as they were contesting the first World Championships final of their careers and it was the Mongolian who topped the medal podium on shido penalties with three against Mudranov and two against Ganbat. 

Tokyo Grand Slam winner Kondo Ami of Japan produced the finest performance of her fledgling career on the biggest stage of the IJF World Judo Tour to win -48kg gold. Kondo, 19 had made significant inroads on the circuit over the last year but stepped up another level with victory of the Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Paula Pareto (ARG). The veteran Pareto is a class operator and has long ruled her continent but was still regarded as fringe hope for world title honours. The rivals could only by separated by shido penalties as Pareto, who was unable to match the industry of Kondo, was penalised twice for passivity while the Japanese fighter had an unblemished record. As she stepped off the tatami, Kondo put her head in her hands as she felt the greatest emotion of her career and had a beaming smile as she jumped into the arms of her coach. Kondo said:” I am very glad with the result and my performance.”

In the first semi-final Mudranov ended the reign of Takato Naohisa (JPN) whose international unbeaten run, which stood since 2012, was ended in Chelyabinsk. The home fighter scored a yuko with ashi-waza before Takato, whose face is on billboards promoting the event throughout the city, levelled with the same score. Takato was penalised with a shido for stepping out of the area and that proved the deciding act of the contest as the home fans raised the volume for the result. 

In the second semi-final Ganbat beat Amiran Papinashvili (GEO) on shido penalties. GANBAT, who was one of Mongolia’s leading hopes in Chelyabinsk, was penalised twice while his Georgian opponent and Havana Grand Prix winner Papinashvili infringed on three occasions.

The first bronze medal was won by Papinashvili who defeated former European Championships bronze medallist Artiom Arshanski (ISR). Papinashvili trailed by a yuko as ARSHANSKI pivoted on the spot to score an ouchi-gari but delivered a sublime piece of judo befitting of the stage as he attacked with a drop seoi-nage and showed stunning footwork to add a leg attack in a secondary motion in the form of an ouchi-gari.

The second bronze medal was won by Takato who bested surprise contender Aibek Imashev (KAZ) who until today was best known for winning the Prague European Open. Imashev showed his worth by countering a Takato attack by sweeping him for a waza-ari before the class of the Japanese star told as a ura-nage sent the spirited Kazakh to the tatami for ippon.