Faicel Jaballah brings Tunisia back on the judo map

Faicel JABALLAH from Tunisia has won the Grand Prix of Samsun, an important victory for him and his country. The final of the men’s heavyweight category opposed the two favourites of the competition, world number two, Rafael Silva from Brazil and Faicel JABALLAH from Tunisia, who was happy to come back at this level after his defeat at the first round of the Düsseldorf Grand Prix in February.

Being passive, the Tunisian was the first one to be penalised with a shido. It was then time to penalise both athletes for passivity as they were just opposing force against force. But Silva also got penalised two times, the advantage going to JABALLAH, who maintained the shido difference until the final gong.

Faicel JABALLAH said: “It’s a very good result for me. I needed that for my personal motivation. In Düsseldorf I wasn’t good but here I found the necessary ressources to make my way to the top of the podium. The next important event for me will be the African Championships in Gabon, but my objective is the Olympic podium.“

The first bronze medal fight opposed Iurii KRAKOVETSKII (KGZ) and Ushangi KOKAURI (AZE) who were not among the eight top seeded athletes of the category. Five minutes were not enough to decide the winner, it was time for golden score and a last false attack by KOKAURI gave the victory to Iurii KRAKOVETSKII.

The second bronze medal contest saw BOR Barna (HUN), winner of last year’s Astana Grand Prix, and Iakiv KHAMMO (UKR) fighting for a place on the podium. The two penalties given to KHAMMO were enough to offer the bronze medal to BOR Barna.