Consecutive gold U81kg for Georgia with Giorgi Sherazadishvili

For a second time in a row again Georgia presents a Junior World Champion in the U81kg weight class. Giorgi Sherazadishvili stepped into the footlight of Vladimir Akhalkatsi who won the title in 2019 in Marrakech. Georgia does not need to be presented any more when it comes to talking about judo. With world champions and Olympics champions coming from the Caucasus country, it is not a surprise to discover a new Georgian name in the final of a world championships, which was the case of Giorgi Sherazadishvili.

Giorgi Sherazadishvili faced Adam Tsechoev of Russia for the gold medal, showing the good form of the Russian delegation too, which has already won two titles in Olbia.

After the first two bronze medal matches, to be reported on shortly, the final started with the same high rhythm, giving the impression that once again the match won't last four minutes. Less active than his opponent, Adam Tsechoev was penalised a first time. As this pushed him to take risks, he was countered by Sherazadishvili for waza-ari. The Georgian champion just had to control the rest of the bout to gain the junior world title. Something tells us that it's not the last time we will see Giorgi Sherazadishvili. This is the second gold medal for Giorgia in Olbia.

Giorgi Sherazadishvili said, "All Georgian judoka are strong because we work hard and we help each other. We are never alone on the mat, with all of the team and a whole country supporting each judoka. There is no better motivation than that."

In the first bronze medal contest, Ayan Baigazy (KAZ) opposed Eljan Hajiyev (AZE). Hajiyev quickly took the lead with a clear waza-ari that was just lacking a bit of impact to be counted as ippon. A few seconds later, everyone could feel that something was going to happen and this time it was Ayan Baigazy who scored waza-ari with a massive counterattack (te-waza) on Hajiyev's attempt to score with a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi. It was clear that this match wouldn't reach the end and that is exactly what happened when Eljan Hajiyev performed an aerial koshi-waza technique, this time for ippon.

Yesterday, Gianni Maddaloni explained that together with his son they would win the title if Bright would follow, to the letter, the plan strategised together. This almost worked, until the quarter-final, when Bright Maddaloni Nosa (ITA) lost against Eljan Hajiyev (AZE). For the Italian there was still one chance to step on the podium, when he faced Artem Bubyr (UKR) in the second bronze medal contest. Unfortunately he was quickly countered on his very first attack and then pinned down by Artem Bubyr, with the medal eventually going to Ukraine.

In Zagreb, a week ago, we already underlined that the current phase is more than a phase of transition between two Olympic cycles. It is a phase of construction during which the new builders can express their full potential. Thank you to all our juniors for bringing a youthful and energetic touch to international judo and for blowing an invigorating breeze of freshness across our heads.