Mongolian legend Khashbaatar denied in the final by Tatalashvili

In the first semi-final Khashbaatar bested teammate Ganbaatar Odbayar (MGL) by scoring a waza-ari from a tani-otoshi and held him down for 15 seconds to add a second and match-winning waza-ari. Joining the Mongolian in the final was Tatalashvili who broke the Asian dominance of the semi-finals as he swept past world number 200 Jang Won Gi (KOR) with a yuko from a tai-otoshi setting him on his way before he added a waza-ari and ippon.

 

 

Georgian coach Irakle Uznadze is accustomed to accompanying his athletes to the tatami to take part in a medal contests. Today was no exception as Uznadze followed Nugzari Tatalashvili into the arena for the gold medal match in the U73 kilo category where the Georgian faced home favourite Khasbaatar Tsaganbaatar. The route to the final saw Tatalashvili defeat Hasan Vanlioglu of Turkey by ippon in the opening round. He next faced the Asian champion Hong Kuk Hyon of North Korea who possessing exceptional throwing skills was let down by committing several errors earning him three shidos and a loss. Tatalashvili then threw Jang Won-Gi KOR for ippon to take his place in the final. “I was really pleased to get the win against Khasbaatar. He is a high quality fighter and I had not fought him before. We had been on together at training camps but not in competition. I was not thinking about where we were, I mean being in Ulaanbaatar, his home. I was simply concentrating on what I had to do,” said Tatalashvili.