Jaba Papinashvili pips peers for Georgian victory

Georgian youngster Jaba Papinashvili sent his country’s flag to the rafters and his stock to an all-time high by winning the first male final at the World Junior Championships in Zagreb. Papinashvili had too much attacking threat for former Junior European Championships winner Natig Gurbanli (AZE) as he launched a series of committed movements that troubled the Azeri.

The Georgian produced two waza-ari scores which went unanswered and that concluded the scoring as one more country was off the mark in Croatia.

In the first semi-final 20-year-old Worlds debutant Vano Niniashvili (GEO) felt to Gurbanli who threw the Georgian for a waza-ari score and then held him down for ippon. The Azeri was the first judoka to book a placxe in the final on day one in Zagreb. In the second semi-final Junior European Cup silver medallist Papinashvili (GEO) bested Junior Asian Championships winner Bauyrzhan Narbayev (KAZ) by a waza-ari after 39 seconds of golden score.

The first bronze medal was claimed by Narbayev after a highly-competitive clash against teammate and former Cadet Asian Championships winner Damir Bolatbekov (KAZ). Narbayev struck in golden score with his second waza-ari to finish ahead of his countryman and as Kazakhstan’s representative on the -55kg medal podium.               

The second bronze medal went to 20-year-old Lkhagvajamts Unubold (MGL) who was urged on by Mongolian legend Khashbaatar Tsagaanbaatar. The Mongolian defeated Niniashvili by taking control of his opponent with pure te-waza in a move that the great Khashbaatar himself would have been proud of.

Japan sits top of the medal table with one bronze medal in addition to their two gold medals while Georgia are second with one gold medal and a fifth-place and the Netherlands in third position with the remaining gold medal.

Read all other stories from Zagreb