Russia’s Denis Iartcev grabs valuable gold

Russia judoka Denis Iartcev topped a Grand Prix medal podium for the second time in his career by defeating London 2012 Olympic champion and Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO) in the -73kg final. Four-time Grand Prix winner Shavdatuashvili struggled to deal with the tricky Russian who threw his Georgian rival with a beautiful sasae-tsurikomi-ashi for a waza-ari score.

Cancun Grand Prix silver medallist Iartcev then anticipated a soft ko-soto-gari attempt from Shavdatuashvili who ended up on his back from a te-waza movement.

In the first semi-final Shavdatuashvili defeated former Tyumen Grand Slam silver medallist Guillaume Chaine (FRA) by a waza-ari score from an o-uchi-gari. In the second semi-final Iartcev defeated Junior world champion Bilal Ciloglu (TUR) with a counter to a sumi-gaeshi after three minutes of golden score with te-waza for a waza-ari score.

The first bronze medal was won by Tashkent Grand Prix winner Khikmatillokh Turaev (UZB) after Ciloglu received his third shido and was disqualified in golden score.

The second bronze medal went to Pan American Championships gold medallist Antoine Bouchard (CAN) who defeated Chaine after a video refereeing commission decision. The Canadian, who lost his bronze medal contest at the Rio 2016 Olympics, went ahead with his trademark sumi-gaeshi and added a second score from a ko-uchi-gake which after a review was deemed a match-winning score.