Elios Manzi outstanding in Abu Dhabi and follows Manuel Lombardo

The Italian men and women are gaining momentum this year especially in the lightweight categories where in each division they have a few contenders. It is not different in U66kg where both Elios Manzi and Matteo Piras were able to go for the medals at the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi. Elios Manzi had an outstanding day and captured the gold medal against Serbia’s Strahinja Buncic who never made it to a final in the IJF World Judo Tour.

Like many others, Buncic had never participated in a grand slam final. Neither had Manzi but he had won a grand prix. They arrived with the same age, the same relatively discreet résumé, but in Abu Dhabi they were dominant and that's why they reached the final. We freely admit that we did not know who to bet on. Manzi played the flute first with a nice waza-ari that didn't disarm the Serb. Buncic was paralysed, as if he did not know what to do and the kumi-kata fight was clearly favourable to the Italian who took advantage of the Serbian's indecision to finish the fight with another fast, effective, beautiful waza-ari and a first gold of enormous weight in his career.

Bronze for Kuanov

We were delighted to see Wail Ezzine fighting for bronze against Kuanov, because Algeria is a country of judo, but it is not easy to find the promise of the future. Ezzine came to Abu Dhabi unapologetically and attacked in all of his fights. Buncic was the only one capable of stopping him and Kuanov wanted to be the second to do so. He did it with a spectacular armlock and we're happy for Kuanov, author of a great tournament, but we hope to see Ezzine fighting for medals again.

Gaitero gives it away to Piras

Gaitero versus Piras fought for the second bronze in a fight that will not remain in the collective memory of the judo public. It was a bit more interesting in the golden score part but not enough to buy fireworks. They were two athletes without wanting to lose and controlling their own mistakes very well. The first to succumb was the Spanish. The referees considered that he made a false attack and since he already had two penalties, the third was lethal. It was what we said, a matter of errors. With bronze and gold, plus medals from Piras, Giuffrida and Milani, it can be said that for Italy life in Abu Dhabi resembles la dolce vita.

Prelims

In this case it happened at the hands of the Spaniard Alberto Gaitero Martín, second seed. He, in his first match, against the Bulgarian Yanislav Gerchev, had to endure a golden score period of more than five minutes, which is not recommended when you want to manage your strength for later. The good news for the Spaniard was that he was already warned that he could not fall asleep. That's where normality ended because everyone fell like flies in the quarter-finals. Gaitero woke up too late and lost against the Kazakh Yesset Kuanov. The Serbian Strahinja Buncic eliminated the Italian Matteo Piras, who in turn had defeated the favourite, the European Champion Ukrainian Bogdan Iadov. The other Italian in the category, Elios Manzi, qualified for his first grand slam final by eliminating Kuanov.

Manzi became the ninth Italian to win a Grand Slam in his career, the second U66kg, Manuel Lombardo won as well in Abu Dhabi in 2019.