Bulgaria tremendously proud of first Judo World Champion Denislav Ivanov

Bulgaria is lyric about the first ever World Champion in history, Denislav Ivanov claimed the World title for Cadets in Sarajevo. The Cadet European champion Denislav Ivanov blew away the opposition on day one to win gold for Bulgaria. In the past only Georghi Petrov was in a World Championships (seniors) final in 1985. Perhaps Ivanov can step into the footlight of the nation that delivered so many heroic judoka.

Ivanov saw off Cadet European Cup bronze medallist Tofig Mammadov (AZE) in the -55kg final which was the last contest on the opening day. Ivanov submitted Mammadov with shime-waza at the halfway mark and fought back the tears as he stepped onto the podium to receive his gold medal.

In the first semi-final Ivanov (BUL) bested Cadet European Championships bronze medallist Khamzat Akhmarov (RUS) by a yuko while in the second semi-final Mammadov (AZE) defeated Cadets Pan American Cup gold medallist Renan TORRES (BRA) by the same margin.

The first bronze medal was won by Akhmarov (RUS) who returned to winning ways against Pongracz Bence (HUN) as he threw beautifully with uchi-mata for ippon. The second bronze medal went to Vano Khubashvili (GEO) who floored his opponent Renan Torres (BRA) twice with ashi-waza and earned a waza-ari each time to defeat the Brazilian. The second and match-winning score came from a de-ashi-barai as the Georgian showed great footwork. A full European podium on the stage.