World number one Michael Korrel takes gold in Paris

World number one Michael Korrel of the Netherlands won gold in at the Grand Slam in Paris for the first time after his fellow finalist Tokyo Grand Slam winner Cho Guham (KOR) was ruled out by a knee injury. It was the first time since 1999 that a Dutchman won this category in Paris, Ben Sonnemans was the last one.

Korrel starred during the preliminaries with some eye-catching ippons and was on top form while Cho had also had his moments as he was once again the spoiler against the hosts’ U100kg favourite.

In the first semi-final Korrel defeated former Tashkent Grand Prix silver medallist Zlatko Kumric (CRO) by ippon with a precise ko-uchi-gari. In the second semi-final Olympic bronze medallist Cyrille Maret (FRA) was emphatically dispatched by Cho after two minutes of golden score with a beautiful low left-sided ippon seoi-nage which silenced the crowd.

Maret was not in his rhythm during the bronze medal contest against Paltchik (ISR) as both judoka failed to threaten the scorebard and golden score was required. This was the time Maret chose to finally score and to release the energy he had held back during the day. After a long accolade, the Frenchman warmly thanked the public that supported him throughout the competition.

In the other bronze medal contest, Liparteliani, who was eliminated in quarter final by Maret, defeated Kumric after a terrific match which was settled by a waza-ari in favour of the Georgian.

Alongside Michael Korrel also Frank de Wit and Guusje Steenhuis are leading the latest World Ranking for the Netherlands.