Nora Gjakova in the final against Rafaela Silva

A great contest between Nora Gjakova and Olympic Champion Rafaela Silva in Tbilisi’s U57kg final. After the first shift and qualification for the final both won all their matches. Kosovo star Gjakova defeated Dutch woman Sanne Verhagen in the semi final whilst the Brazilian defeated Helene Receveaux for a place in the final in the Georgian capital.

Daria Bilodid (UKR) qualified rather easily for the final U48kg where her expected opponent should be Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia, but the tiny athlete lost her contest to French Melanie Clement who is on form. The French will now meet Bilodid and both have never met before. Bilodid overcame Hungarian Eva Czernoviczki in the semi final.

Israelian Gili Cohen again qualified for the final. The winner of the Grand Slam in Ekaterinburg defeated French Astride Gneto in the semi. Odette Giuffrida needed all her energy in the semi final to qualify against Khorloodoi Bishrelt (MGL).

French 2016 European Champion Walide Khyar is back in the men’s final U60kg. Last year Khyar won the Grand Prix in Tunis and this time he will be opposed to Lukhumi Chkhviami of Georgia who will be heavily supported by the knowledgeable home crowd. Khyar defeated the strong Artem Lesyuk (UKR) in the semi final. Lesyuk survived a strong pool. Chkhviami overcame Boldbaatar Ganbat in the semi.

The category U66kg will see a final between Tal Flicker who can this time take gold. In Ekaterinburg he lost the final against countryman Shmailov for bronze. Flicker will meet with the surprising man Giorgi Tutashvili of Georgia. But there were more surprises in this division where Indian Jasleen Singh Saini fought a brave match in the semi final and can become the first man ever in India to win an IJF World Tour medal. Tutashvili led that semi final by wazari but Saini scored wazari in the last seconds, but lost finally after a heroic match. Saini will now face Daniel Perez Roman (ESP) for a place on the podium.