Greek talent Theo Tselidis looks to fulfil early promise

Theodoros Tselidis burst onto the IJF scene in 2018 when he finished fifth on his Grand Prix debut in Tbilisi and then won bronze in Hohhot either side of a stunning bronze medal at the European Championships.

After proving to be a revelation in his first three international outings, Tselidis, 25, missed the podium for the following four events after being handed some tough draws before bouncing back with gold at the Asian Open in Aktau, Kazakhstan, at the end of 2018.

The U90kg competitor spent a year away from the circuit before randomly returning in Osaka last year and unsurprisingly slipped to a first round defeat at the hands of Gantulga Altanbagana (MGL) having picked up three shidos in three minutes due to a lack of sharpness.

Tselidis, who it has emerged was a silver medallist at the Russian Championships in 2017 before switching nations, holds wins over high calibre judoka such as world champion Noel van 't End (NED) and is highly-dangerous with his modified kata-guruma, ko-uchi-makikomi and ippon seoi-nage all finding their way through to beat world-class opponents. Tselidis was born in Russia as Fedor Celidi where he took a silver medal at the Russian Championships in 2017 U90kg. He switched to Greece and immediately picked up the pace winning important medals. He won bronze at the European Championships in Tel Aviv and followed up with bronze at the Grand Prix in Hohhot and bronze at Mediterranean Games in Tarragona.

The world number 64 will be one to watch in Tel Aviv and will hope for a more favourable draw then he was afforded in Japan.