Zhansay Smagulov defeats silver Sebastian Seidl in U66kg final

Another gold medal at the Grand prix of Budapest was captured by Kazakhstan. Zhansay Smagulov won the title in the final against German's Sebastian Seidl who is also in a great shape. For Seidl quite frustrating as it was his third lost final of this year. The 22-year-old Smagulov didn't mind and had several attempts with his uchi-mata. The German’s lack of activity was summed up when he was penalised with a shido for an overly defensive posture with 11 seconds left and the rivals were separated on shido penalties.

For Seidl the final looked a deja-vu for the 24-year old judoka as with again a lost final: “It’s very hard, but on the other hand it’s also the third final in a row. In this moment I’m very sad as I think I could win this fight. The other lost finals were harder than this. But tomorrow is another day.”

In the first semi-final Smagulov defeated former Uzbek world champion Rishod Sobirov. Smagulov led by a waza-ari after 30 seconds and then scored a yuko as Sobirov was below-par. In the second semi-final Seidl won against Olympic champion U60kg Arsen Galstyan by ippon in the final minute to advance to the semi-final.

Seidl defeated Arsen Galstyan though in the second semi final. “The semi final was good, he is very good in tachi waza and I am better in ne-waza, so I beat him” Seidl reacted on that victory. Seidl now comes close to the top 10 of the world ranking which is led by Georgii Zantaraia (UKR), Pulyaev and Tumurkhuleg follow but the differences aren’t that big. “At the World Championships I want to show my best judo you have ever seen. I can beat all the guys here, so I will fight for the medals. Zantaiara is for me still a nasty opponent, I lost the previous final against him in Zagreb but I am confident I will give my best judo at the World Championships.”

The first bronze medal was won by Galstyan against French David Larose who is still struggling to discover his level in 2015. Galstyan led the contest by a yuko and maintained his advantage as Larose pressed forward in need of a score and a morale-boosting result to reignite his Olympic ambitions. Galstyan used the momentum of the Frenchman to throw him with a beautiful drop seoi-nage for ippon as the latter was left dejected and slowly returned to his feet for the referee to award the contest to his conqueror. The second bronze medal went to Samsun Grand Prix bronze medallist Sergiu Oleinic (POR) as Sobirov was ruled out of the contest due to an injury sustained in the opening session.