Sardor Nurillaev surprises Margvelashvili outside the mat

In the U66kg category final Georgian ace Vazha Margvelashvili got surprised. In the final he faced the number 4 seed, Sardor Nurillaev (UZB), who climbed up one more level after his bronze medal in Tashkent two weeks ago. Margvelashvili who is the bronze medallist of the last World Judo Masters was obviously seeded number one in the competition.

It took only 20 seconds for Nurillaev to score an impressive ippon, after he had engaged an o-uchi-gari that went outside the fighting area, but in a brilliant change of direction, Nurillaev transformed the backward momentum into a brilliant uchi-mata. Margvelashvili could look at the referee with astonishment. The ippon was crystal clear and a good example of the fact that you should never relax until the referee actually says mate.

A second local athlete, Bagrati Niniashvili (GEO), faced Mongolian Kherlen Ganbold (MGL), winner of the World Judo Masters in 2017, for a place on the podium, but despite competing at home, Niniashvili was not able to stop Ganbold from throwing for ippon with his special Mongolian wrestling style. It's interesting to see Ganbold competing, as he is a perfect example of the transition from the traditional Mongolian wrestling, where there are no sleeves to grab, into judo, where he prefers to catch his opponent far down his back; that is very effective.

The 27th place in the world ranking is occupied by Mikhail Puliaev (RUS) and this is not indicative of the exemplary career of the three-time world silver medallist, already the winner of two grand slams. During this first day of competition in Tbilisi, he was able to add his name once again to the prize list of a world circuit competition. He did this, finally, without having to force his talent too much, since Denis Vieru (MDA) was unable to appear due to an injury he sustained earlier in the day.