Kim Won Jin back on track for Olympics

The first men's final in Tel Aviv was between Turkish Mihrac Akkus and Korean Kim Won Jin, demonstrating the high quality of the Korean team engaged in Tel Aviv.

The first powerful attacks, while the two athletes were in perfect control for a while, came from Kim's side, with a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi on the left, followed a few seconds later by a counter in o-soto-o-soto style, from which Akkus miraculously escaped. It is therefore with a simple shido registered on the scoreboard in the Turkish corner that Akkus and Kim entered golden score. Two shidos later, Akkus saw his golden dream fly away when he was penalised twice for a cross-grip, offering Kim the sixth gold medal in a Grand Prix.

The first bronze medal match saw Lee Harim (KOR) and Aoki Dai (JPN) opposed in a 100% Asian confrontation. Halfway through the match, Aoki Dai, once again demonstrated the supremacy of Japanese judo on the ground, carrying out meticulous work towards an armlock, to win his third medal on the Grand Prix stage.

In the second bronze medal contest, Hakberdi Jumayev (TKM) faced Nicolae Foca (MDA). At any time, the match seemed to be able to tip over to one side or the other, the two athletes taking all the risks to score, but like felines, they escaped each attack with agility. Despite  relentless attacks from both sides, Foca ended the four minutes of regular time with two shidos to his credit, after committing two fouls. But that is perhaps what gave him the little extra will to win when Jumayev seemed to be looking for the third shido. Working in construction in Israel, without having the opportunity to train as much as he’d like, he obtained his participation in the Grand Prix at the last moment. The least we can say is that Nicolae Foca patiently built his victory by executing at the end of the effort a perfect ippon-ko-uchi-gari to get on the podium.