World number 406 Moon Jin Lee stuns world-class field

World number 406 Lee Moon Jin of Korea created one of the biggest shocks in IJF World Judo Tour history as the rank outsider won all six of his contests on his Grand Slam debut. World bronze medallist Luka Maisuradze (GEO) was his sixth and final victim as the former Asian Championships bronze medallist rolled the 21-year-old hotshot over for a waza-ari score and added a match-winning second with a counter for ippon.

The Georgian lacked composure and maturity while Lee oozed confidence and thrilled the crowd all day long with his explosive judo. The South Korean, who started the day with just six IJF World Ranking List points to his name, will now jump hundreds of places up towards 50th place after bagging 1000 points today.

In the first semi-final Maisuradze catapulted world bronze medallist Antoine Valois-Fortier (CAN) through the air after the vastly-experienced Canadian walked onto the technique from the young Georgian.

In the second semi-final Lee stunned former world bronze medallist Vedat Albayrak (TUR) after just 11 seconds with a thunderous morote-seoi-nage for the maximum score.

The first bronze medal was won by world number five Albayrak who held down world number four Frank De Wit (NED) for 20 seconds and ippon. De Wit is one of the most exciting judoka to watch in the category as he’s always prepared to go all out and risk everything. The Dutchman tried to counter Albayrak with sutemi-waza but fell into the holddown and could not escape the powerful grip of the Turkish judoka who collected his country’s second medal on day two.

The second bronze medal went to Hohhot Grand Prix bronze medallist Dominic Ressel (GER) who defeated Valois-Fortier by ippon after 61 seconds. World number six Ressel sent world number seven Valois-Fortier flying with a front uchi-mata for ippon and his sixth Grand Slam honour.