No heavyweight gold as both Japanese finalists disqualified

Olympic silver medallist Harasawa Hisayoshi and two-time Grand Slam winner Ojitani Takeshi both from Japan were not expected to produce one of best contests of the competition when they were paired together but what materialised was an attack-shy final which culminated with a first double disqualification on this stage.

World number 34 Harasawa was fighting for the first time since his shock exit in round two of the World Championships last September which was a fate that Ojitani had also experienced after a third round defeat. Both men were still bidding to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Japanese and when the opportunity presented itself today they both floundered under the bright lights of a Grand Slam final and the last contest of the competition. After a sub-standard final, both judoka received their marching orders with a double hansoku-make issued for the first time as the teammates received their third shidos simultaneously. This meant that there was no +100kg winner and the two Japanese ended with silver medals.

Juan Carlos Barcos, IJF Head Referee Director, explained the decision as he said: “The IJF Supervisors and our team deemed that this contest and the way it unfolded was unacceptable. There was no intention to fight from either judoka and with the recently amended rules we can now reprimand two judoka in this way. This is what we decided as there was no judoka worthy of winning in the +100kg final.”

In the first semi-final Hohhot Grand Prix bronze medallist Andrey Volkov (RUS) picked up a third shido in an insipid display to send Harasawa in the heavyweight final. In the second semi-final Tashkent Grand Prix silver medallist Iurii Krakovetskii (KGZ) narrowly lost out to Ojitani by a waza-ari.

The first bronze medal was won by IJF World Judo Tour debutant Bekbolot Toktogonov (KGZ) who bested teammate Krakovetskii by ippon to mark a memorable first experience of the international circuit. While the method of victory will be recorded as ippon, it did not come from a score but rather three shidos against the vastly more experienced judoka.

The second bronze medal went to Volkov who outgripped and outfought Rome European Open silver medallist Johannes Frey (GER) who was disqualified after receiving three shidos.