Frank de Wit rediscovers the taste of gold

Former World number one Frank De Wit of the Netherlands won his country’s second gold medal of the day with a professional performance against number 108 Timo Cavelius (GER). De Wit went for broke in early exchanges before settling down and establishing his dominance as first-time IJF finalist Cavelius struggled to threaten the Dutch star.

Two-time Grand Slam winner and World Judo Masters bronze medallist De Wit claimed his maiden Grand Prix title in golden score and in front of his parents when Cavelius was dismissed for a false attack which was his third shido.

In the first semi-final De Wit profited from a mistake by former Düsseldorf Grand Slam silver medallist Alpha Oumar Djalo (FRA) in golden score as the Frenchman lost his focus and pushed out his Dutch rival to receive this third and final penalty. In the second semi-final Cavelius snuck past 2018 Tbilisi Grand Prix silver medallist Anri Egutidze (POR) by a waza-ari score to move into the final.

The first bronze medal was won by London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Antoine Valois-Fortier (CAN) who thwarted Egutidze by a waza-ari score to claim his first IJF medal since he took gold at the Hohhot Grand Prix in 2017.     

The second bronze medal went to 2018 Antalya Grand Prix bronze medallist Tato Grigalashvili (GEO) who outlasted world number 46 Djalo after two minutes and 13 seconds of golden score by a waza-ari score from a ko-uchi-gari.