Matthias Casse overcomes dangerous Albayrak this time

From the first minutes the ippon and the spectacular actions followed one another, offering a high quality spectacle to the many spectators again present in the stands at the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv. Obviously, they came in large numbers to support their national heroes, including the 2019 world champion, Sagi Muki.

It was a tense final, with two of the strongest men of the moment in the category. There was no big throw but a lot of very interesting kumi-kata. What is important is that after almost four minutes of golden score, Matthias Casse, who was maybe a little fresher than his opponent, concluded with a unique style of juji-gatame for ippon, concluding a great day of judo.

The hierarchy was perfectly respected at U81kg where the two top seeds, the reigning world champion and world number two Matthias Casse (BEL) and Vedat Albayrak (TUR), fifth in the world and winner of the Baku Grand Slam last year, found themselves in the final of a particularly tough category. It is interesting to note that this final is the third meeting between the two men and corresponds to the final of the 2021 European Championships, which saw the victory of the Turkish athlete. It was 2-0 for Albayrak before this Tel Aviv Grand Slam.

In his powerful and stable style, with his seoi-nage or his sumtemi-waza, Casse passed the elimination phases without really putting himself in danger. Master of his nerves, he tired all his opponents one by one to again reach the final of an event on the circuit, demonstrating his great consistency at this level.

Vedat Albayrak performed miracles from the beginning of the tournament, until the semi-finals where he found himself opposed to the 2019 world champion and national star, Sagi Muki. The Israeli is in a phase of returning to competition and obviously he has not yet regained the full capacity of his talent. He had a lot to do in the early matches and was sometimes put in danger, but was always victorious in the end, except in the semi-final, where he was pinned down by Vedat Albayrak.

There was an interesting contest between Sami Chouchi (BEL) and Sagi Muki for the first bronze medal. After only 17 seconds both athletes were penalised with a shido for avoiding gripping and a little later Chouchi received a second shido, putting him in a difficult situation as in front of him he had Sagi Muki who was fully supported by his public. Golden score! Things seemed to be in good hands with Sagi Muki, when suddenly Chouchi dropped under the centre of gravity of his opponent with a yoko-guruma that totally surprised Muki and left him flat on his back. It’s a hard time for the champion, but the public continued to support Muki and Chouchi, with the two men delivering a beautiful moment of sportsmanship.

In the match for the second bronze medal, François Gauthier Drapeau (CAN) was opposed by Shamil Borchashvili (AUT). After almost four minutes of golden score, François Gauthier Drapeau won his second grand slam medal with a ko-uchi-gari that he combined with a tani-otoshi as he passed behind the his opponent. It was beautifully executed.