First IJF World Tour gold for Dutchman Jesper Smink

Jesper Smink celebrated a good start of the season at the Grand Prix of Portugal where he bagged the first gold medal in his career in his weight category U90kg. This will give him strength and confidence in his battle for the qualification for the Paris Games with 2019 World Champion Noël van ‘t End. To date Smink never reached the final of a World Judo Tour event, although he was already a five-time medallist on the circuit.

Thanks to the good results obtained last year, Christian Parlati (ITA) reached 11th place in the world ranking at -81kg. Showing the high value of Italian judo, he has won the Tashkent Grand Slam, finished second in Antalya and was on the podium of the European Championships. This season, he has decided to move up to the next category, in which he has no results so far and therefore less experience. Good for him, because for his first outing on the international circuit, he reached the final, where he was opposed by Jesper Smink.

The match was quite balanced and both athletes were active enough not to earn a single penalty, until the last forty seconds when Parlati launched a poorly prepared o-soto-gari that was immediately counterattacked with o-soto-gaeshi by Jesper Smink for a first gold medal at that level.

Jesper Smink said: "It was my first final and my first gold medal in the first event of the year and in the first ever World Judo Tour tournament in Portugal. Until now finals always looked too far from me. Not anymore and I hope this is the beginning of something bigger."

159 in the world ranking, Iurie Mocanu (MDA) qualified for the first bronze medal contest against Alex Cret (ROU), 71st in the world. The latter scored a first waza-ari before pinning down his opponent for ippon, for a first bronze medal at this level.

Imeda Gogoladze (GEO), with no reference on the circuit so far, met a better known competitor, ranked 12th, Komronshokh Ustopiryon (TJK) in the second bronze medal contest. The Tajik scored a waza-ari with a seoi-nage during golden score, to grab the gold medal.