Azerbaijan does good business with golden Orujov U73kg

Number three seed Rustam ORUJOV (AZE) was the pick of the fighters in the -73kg category as he defeated World number 43 Dastan YKYBAYEV (KAZ) to be crowned Tbilisi Grand Prix 2015 gold medallist. World number nine ORUJOV, who took bronze at the Jeju Grand Prix, opened the scoring with a waza-ari from a sumi-gaeshi and, despite a yuko from a drop seoi-nage for YKYBAYEV, capped a fine all-round performance with gold.

In the first semi-final YKYBAYEV defeated home fighter Zviad KAPANADZE (GEO) by wazari-awasette-ippon which included a match winning tai-otoshi. In the second semi-final Olympic champion Lasha SHAVDATUASHVILI (GEO) was defeated by ORUJOV who lost to two successive waza-ari scores including an opening sasae-tsurikomi-ashi.

The first bronze medal was clinched by SHAVDATUASHVILI who took silver at his home event in 2014. With a gold backpatch denoting his Olympic credentials, his opponent, 19-year-old Huseyn RAHIMLI (AZE), was not overawed. However, RAHIMLI, who was fifth at the Junior World Championships last year, was thrown with an ouchi-gari for a yuko score and had to tap out to a juji-gatame as the crowd roared their approval. That result also provided the hosts’ first medal of the competition. The second bronze medal was also destined for Georgia as KAPANADZE, who eliminated top seed SAINJARGAL Nyam-Ochir (MGL) in the quarter-final, went up against teammate and 2014 gold medallist Nugzari TATALASHVILI (GEO). KAPANADZE lost by one single shido in a tentative contest.