Ilia Sulamanidze belongs to the big boys

Georgian Ilia Sulamanidze became one of the youngest ever winners of a Grand Slam for Georgia. With only twenty years old and already seeded number two in the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv.

If the first part of the final U100kg against Dutchman Michael Korrel was well balanced, suddenly Ilia Sulamanidze executed the perfect o-soto-otoshi that sent Michael Korrel to the ground for ippon. This is medal number one in a grand slam for the Georgian. Knowing his young age, this is probably not the last one; a competitor to be followed in the years to come.

It was undoubtedly the most anticipated category of the day in Tel Aviv, with the smooth entry of Israelian Peter Paltchik. Obviously he is the darling of the public because hundreds of spectators were already present an hour before the start of the competition, to encourage him as he walked on the tatami. Despite this flawless support and the 'Peter, Peter, Peter' which was chanted by the public, Paltchik did not manage to reach the final, since he was eliminated by an exemplary, powerful Michael Korrel (NED) in the semi-final.

The first bronze medal saw the confrontation of Onise Saneblidze (GEO), third in Baku in 2021 and Zelym Kotsoiev (AZE), winner of the Antalya Grand Slam in 2021. After Saneblidze received his third shido the victory and the bronze medal were awarded to Zelym Kotsoiev.

155th in the world ranking, Eduard Serban (ROU) took on local star Peter Paltchik (ISR) for the second bronze medal. It was hardly possible to talk to your neighbour as Peter Paltchik entered the venue and it required some courage for Serban to compete under so much pressure but he went on the tatami and competed in his most important match so far, putting all his heart into it and pushing Paltchik to golden score. Eventually Eduard Serban was penalised a third time, the victory going to Paltchik. This released all the celebratory pressure that the public wanted to share and the whole stadium sang for many long minutes to recognise their champion.