Aaron Wolf beats world-class pack of contenders in Budapest

World champion Aaron Wolf showed no signs of being off the circuit for 12 months as he won gold in Budapest as he did one year ago at his first World Championships. Tokai University judoka Wolf, who was wearing his red backpatch for the first time, in his comeback event, looked sharp and was ruthless with his ashi-waza which he used to setup the majority of his scores.

Wolf went to a four-minute stalemate with Agadir Grand Prix bronze medallist Karl-Richard Frey (GER) as a period of golden score was summoned. After 13 additional seconds Wolf showed lightning quick footwork to deftly counter his German adversary for ippon and a scintillating return to competition. Wolf will be in Baku to defend his title and Frey will be one of a lhost of contenders with a focus on the returning champion at U100kg.  

In the first semi-final Frey defeated four-time Grand Slam medallist Jevgenijs Borodavko (LAT) by ippon with a ko-soto-gake having put himself under pressure by accumulating two penalties. In the second semi-final world champion Wolf held down former Tbiisi Grand Prix silver medallist Martin Pacek (SWE) with a yoko-shiho-gatame for ippon.

The first bronze medal was won by European Championships bronze medallist Peter Paltchik (ISR) who submitted Pacek while also applying a pin as there was no way out for the Swede.                                                      

The second bronze medal went to Borodavko who defeated Tbilisi Grand Prix silver medallist Merab Margiev (RUS). Latvian veteran Borodavko was awarded the contest when Russian Margiev was penalised for the third and final time with a shido for dropping.