Soslan Bostanov keeps his head cool in Uzbekistan

The last final of the Grand Prix of Tashkent opposed the Russian, Soslan Bostanov, who so far had no medal on the World Judo Tour this year, and for the joy of the audience, the Uzbek Bekmurod Oltiboev, who ended at the bottom of the podium in Baku last September. The first danger came from the Russian side, as Bostanov launched a uchi-mata for no score, but a few seconds later he applied the same technique to score a waza-ari.

But Oltiboev did not panic and after an uncessful attempt with a drop-seoi-nage, scored a massive waza-ari with a left handed shoulder movement. The public exploded with joy, but it was not over yet. Supported by his public like no-one before, Oltiboev continued to attack, but this time the Russian was aware of the danger and he blocked the last attack and controlled the Uzbek on the floor for ippon.

The first bronze medal contest of the category was supposed to oppose Iurii Krakovetskii (KGZ) and the giant Renat Saidov (RUS), but as the latter was disqualified in semi-final, Krakovetskii was designated winner of the match.

The last bronze medal contest of the tournament opposed Ikhtiyor Khalmuratov (UZB), who's best place so far was a fifth place at a Grand Prix (Tashkent 2017) and Yerassyl Kazhybayev (KAZ), who also had no record on the World Judo Tour up to now. After one minute, Kazhybayev was penalized for the first time, but he then scored a beautiful o-soto-otoshi, like only heavy weights do. That was a Ippon and the bronze medal for Kazhybayev.