Japan continues to find gold with Kazunari Kamigaki

Everyone was expecting to see the defending world junior champion, Gela Zaalishvili (GEO), in the final of the Junior World Championships, but he was quickly eliminated by Matsumura Sosuke (JPN), on a superb ura-nage during the preliminary rounds. It was not even Matsumura who qualified for the final, but Kamigaki Kazunari (JPN). As one Georgian can always hide another one it is Ilia Sulamanidze who was competing for the gold medal of the category.

This final was quite symbolic of the peaceful battle that Japan and Georgia were leading at the top of the nation standings, and it gave an idea of the intense matches in the team tournament that will take place during the final day of competition. While Sulamanidze seemed, without having scored yet, to dominate his opponent, the Japanese gradually took the ascendancy to score a first waza-ari, which he followed on the ground with an immobilization but not long enough to score. All was not written yet. A few seconds from the end, the Georgian scored on a desperate shoulder movement. In the golden score, Kamigaki scored the second liberating waza-ari.

The first bronze medal match opposed Mathias Madsen (DEN), seventh of the last Junior European Championships, and Mert Sismanlar (TUR), fifth at the last Universiade in Naples, this summer. After a superb left-handed uchi-mata for ippon, Sismanlar could let his joy explode.

The second bronze medal contest opposed the bronze medallist of the Junior European Championships Zsombor Veg (HUN) and the 2018 Cadet European champion, Matvey Kanikovskiy (RUS). The contest was very short. After a missed attempt to score with a sumi-gaeshi on the edge of the tatami, Veg didn't lose the control and immediately followed with a shime-waza technique for ippon.