Khikmatillokh Turaev defeats Igor Wandtke in thrilling golden score

After having eliminated top seed athlete Tommy Macias (SWE) in the third round of the Grand Slam in Tashkent, Khikmatillokh Turaev (UZB), strongly supported by the audience, entered the final against Igor Wandtke (GER). The public was already chanting, way before the two athletes entered the arena as Turaev could be the first gold medal for the host country.

At each attack, the sound level was dramatically increasing. After a little bit more than two minutes, Wandtke received a first shido as he was avoiding Turaev. The successive attacks of the Uzbek started to sap Wandtke's defense. But after an intense match, nothing was scored and it was time for golden score. After 19 seconds the German was penalized a second time for grabbing the leg. Now both athletes were totally exhausted and Turaev received a first penalty after having stepped outside of the mat. They were reaching the third minute of extra time, when after a sequence of several attacks by the Uzbek, Wandtke was penalized a third time and Khikmatillokh Turaev could finally enjoy winning the first gold medal for Uzbekistan here in Tashkent.

The first bronze medal contest opposed the Frenchman Benjamin Axus, who so far only had one bronze medal at the Ekaterinburg Grand Slam in 2017, and the Russian Oleg Babgoev, who had no record on the World Judo Tour so far. After a little more than one minute, both athletes were penalized with a first shido for blocking the opponent. Then the French received a second penalty for passivity. With less than two minutes before the end, AXUS started to be a little more active and it was Babgoev's turn to receive a second shido. It was time for golden score. A strange rhythm prevailed at the beginning of the extra time, but it is during what looked like a simple ne-waza session, that Babgoev took the advantage to immobilize his opponent for ippon.

For the second place on the podium the two contenders were Georgios Azoidis (GRE), winner of the recent Aktau Asian Open 2018, and the 2014 World bronze medallist Victor Scvortov (UAE). After one minute, Azoidis had already one shido on his name. Half way to the end, it was two penalties for the Greek, one for Scvortov and that was still the case as they entered the golden score. It is finally after 2 minutes and 49 seconds of golden score that the last penalty was awarded to Azoidis for stepping outside of the combat area, offering the victory to Scvortov.