Gela Zaalishvili youngest winner in Tbilisi

Olympic and world medallist Rafael Silva had a good opportunity to collect precious points for the Olympic qualification and he didn't let his chance get away in the final of the Grand Slam in Tbilisi. In the absence of former world champion, Guram Tushishvili, Georgia still had a good chance to be on the podium too and this chance had a name: Gela Zaalishvili. He faced the Brazilian giant for gold and became the yougest winner of this weekend

It is not often that it happens, that someone is capable of throwing Rafael Silva with a massive ippon like Zaalishvili did in this final. After regular time, where both athletes neutralised the other, the Georgian gave the impression that he was preparing something and he actually was. With a huge sode o-soto combination, he made Silva lose balance and roll on his back. This concludes a beautiful competition day for Zaalishvili and for the host country.

A second Georgian competitor was present in the final block, Saba Inaneishvili, who was up against Cemal Erdogan (TUR) for the bronze medal. After a little less than 1 minute, the 19 year old Georgian counterattacked Erdogan for ippon and a first medal in a grand slam.

The last bronze medal contest comprised Maciej Sarnacki (POL) and Andy Granda (CUB). Just after half of the match was past, both athletes had a waza-ari next to their name, when Andy Granda scored a beautiful ippon, from a situation that could have gone in either direction, to win the bronze medal.

Gela Zaalishvili was the youngest winner of this Grand Slam. Lasha Bekauri is the youngest this season in Tel Aviv where also Zaalishvili won, in fact that was his yougest best performance.