The year of Ganbat Boldbaatar unveils more possibilities

If Ganbat Boldbaatar can win the Grand Slam of Paris, anything is possible with this small wonderman. World Judo Masters runner-up Ganbat Boldbaatar of Mongolia dominated European champion Amiran Papinashvili in a surprisingly one-sided final. Ganbat first broke the resistance of Papinashvili after 90 seconds with a yuko from a ko-soto-gari. The Georgian responded with a uchi-mata effort on the edge of the tatami but Ganbat was ready and rolled his foe over for a waza-ari.

Ganbat added a second yuko from an ashi-waza attack before sealing a crowning a masterful performance with a counter after Papinashvili gripped the Mongolian’s belt and sprung forward but before he could strike with ashi-waza Ganbat turned his body to drive his rival over for ippon with power and precision. Papinashvili secured his final berth by defeating 18-year-old surprise package TSAI Ming Yen (TPE) by ippon after taking control with two yuko scores. At the same stage Ganbat proved too strong for Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist Kido Shinji (JPN) as he grinded out the win by shido penalties.

The first bronze medal was won by Kido in exactly 100 seconds as he floored former World Championships bronze medallist Ilgar Mushkiyev (AZE) with an ouchi-gari and followed up with osaekomi-waza for ippon. The second bronze medal was won by wonderkid TSAI who illustrated his ne-waza ability against Qingdao Grand Prix silver medallist Ganbold Kherlen (MGL) by seizing the left arm of his rival for a win by juji-gatame.