Messaoud Dris takes gold for Algeria in Oran

The second day of the Mediterranean Games in Oran the African athletes performed really well. There were a lot of surprises in Algeria and a gold medal for the host country created by Messaoud Dris.

In his class U73kg Dris (ALG) eliminated Cullhaj (ALB) and then Bayan (SYR) and in the semi-final won in golden score by waza-ari with kata-guruma. On the other side of the draw Doukkali (MAR) made his way to the final, passing Andreou (CYP), Hojak (SLO) and then in the semi-final he won in just two minutes with waza-ari-awesete-ippon, both scores from uchi-mata. The final was won by Doukkali.

The first bronze medal contest was won by Ben Chalbi (TUN) who threw Tsoutlasvili of Greece with sumi-otoshi and o-uchi-gari for a place on the podium.

A big surprise came when Italy’s Superman Lombardo pinned down Abushagur (LBA) in the first minute with kata-gatame but then lost and had to settle for a place in the repechage. He won one contest there but was beaten by Gjakova (KOS), meaning a 5th place finish.

In the men’s U81kg class the big favourite won though. Vedat Albayrak (TUR) was in fine form all day and showed no signs of cracking. With both tachi-waza and ne-waza wins he made his way confidently to the final, where he made the difference with waza-ari given for a well timed o-uchi-gari. This gave Bedel (ITA) the silver medal. Throughout the category were a wide variety of techniques both standing and on the ground, with particularly enjoyable moments such as Sherifovski’s (MKD) the juji-gatame against Hajji (TUN) and Rodrigues’ (POR) combination of tomoe-nage with o-uchi-gari against Mountii (MAR) in the repechage.

Urquiza Solana (ESP) won’t be first bronze with ko-uchi-makikomi. Gnamien (FRA) won the other bronze medal with two waza-ari, one from a big ura-nage and the second for a seoi-nage.

Spanish Cristina Cabana (ESP) was a medal candidate U63kg. She won the quarter-final with neat transition from koshi-guruma to kesa-gatame and after another win in the semi-final against Harachi (MAR) found her place in the final, meeting Laura Fazliu of Kosovo who had countered with o-soto-gaeshi in her quarter-final before taking an easy win in the semi-final too. The gold medal was won by Fazliu who managed to throw with soto-makikomi in golden score.

Amina Belkadi (ALG) and Iva Oberan (CRO) won the bronzes; the former with a sumi-gaeshi into osae-komi and the latter on penalties. I noticed Oberon use an ashi-guruma performed in a circular movement earlier in the day and was impressed by it, very stylish judo.

There could be a second African gold medal as Nihel Landolsi (TUN) was well underway and won her quarter-final in golden score against Teltsidou (GRE) and won the semi-final due to a disqualification. Ai Tsunoda (ESP) threw Samardzic (BIH) with seoi-nage in the quarter-final and after an almost eight minute contest threw Pogacnik with koshi-guruma. In final she won the gold medal with an ippon-seoi-nage in the dying seconds.

In the bronze medal contest between Teltsidou and Pogacnik (SLO), it was won on penalties in favour of the Greek judoka. Martina Esposito (ITA) won her first contest against Issoufi (FRA) well but ended up in the repechage, eventually winning the bronze medal by fusen-gachi.

After two days of competition 7 countries have won gold medals and fourteen have stepped on to the podium in total.