Tbilisi-born Sherazadishvili beats Georgian Gviniashvili for Spanish gold

Cancun Grand Prix winner Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP) defeated former World Judo Masters winner Beka Gviniashvili (GEO) in a confident display as the 21-year-old stepped onto the highest place on a Grand Slam podium for the first time.

Tbilisi-born Sherazadishvili, who moved as a child to Spain, was 0:2 in their head-to-head series but that defecit was cut in half as the Spaniard won the rematch of 2015 Junior Worlds final which also took place here in Abu Dhabi. Sherazadishvili opened the scoring with a waza-ari from an uchi-mata and decivesly captured the top prize by countering a ura-nage for ippon.

In the first semi-final Sherazadishvili beat Glasgow European Open bronze medallist Zachary Burt (CAN) by a waza-ari score as the Spaniard secured his first Grand Slam final berth. In the second semi-final Gviniashvili thwarted Sarajevo European Cup winner Alexander Roslyakov (RUS) after 18 seconds of golden score with a te-waza finish for a waza-ari score. 

The first bronze medal was won by Baku Grand Slam silver medallist Mammadali Mehdiyev (AZE) against world number 264 Roslyakov. The Russian was one of the most impressive judoka during the opening session but a weak ura-nage attempt was countered with pure te-waza for ippon after only 41 seconds in the opening contest of the final block.

The second bronze medal went to Burt who defeated Tashkent Grand Prix winner Komronshokh Ustopiriyon (TJK). BURT was fighting for a Grand Slam medal for the first time and won in golden score after 45 seconds when Ustopiriyon tapped out while trapped in osaekomi. Burt had showed his ne-waza ability in the preliminaries and that area of his game yielded the best result of his career on the last day in Abu Dhabi.