The Hague Grand Prix poster boy De Wit wins his second Grand Slam of 2017

Dutchman Frank De Wit became the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam gold medallist with a display of grit and guile as he conquered a star-powered weight category. The 21-year-old Paris Grand Slam winner, who is one of the promotional faces for his country’s upcoming Grand Prix next month, prepared for his first home IJF event in best way possible by winning gold and making sure that he will be one of the top seeds in The Hague.

Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist and world number 16 Otgonbaatar Uuganbaatar (MGL) fell behind to a waza-ari and De Wit applied the osaekomi for 20 seconds to finish undefeated in the U.A.E.

In the first semi-final Otgonbaatar shaded teammate Tashkent Grand Prix silver medallist Nyamsuren Dagvasuren (MGL) by a waza-ari score in a tight and committed contest where both men put their friendship on hold for four minutes. In the second semi-final De Wit  beat Ekaterinburg Grand Slam bronze medallist Zebeda Rekhviashvili (GEO) after 55 seconds of golden score by a waza-ari.

The first bronze medal was won by European champion Alan Khubetsov (RUS) who bested Rekhviashvili by the margin of two waza-ari scores. Rekhviashvili did not get going as Khubetsov asserted himself and was the only judoka who looked capable of scoring which he did without a comeback from his Georgian foe.

The second bronze medal went to world bronze medallist Saeid Mollaei (IRI) who saw off Nyamsuren after two minutes and eight seconds of golden score with a ko-soto-gake which earned a match-winning waza-ari score.