Niyaz Ilyasov saves Russian reputation

Niyaz Ilyasov of Russia won the U100kg title as Russia enjoyed their most successful day of the competition. Last year’s silver medallist Ilyasov battled Prague Junior European Cup winner Leonardo Goncalves of Brazil in the final as Russia’s number one seed was pitted against against Brazil’s number two seed. Ilyasov led by a yuko and added a waza-ari from a pick up before showing his supremacy by holding down his foe for 15 seconds and the gold medal.

After stepping off the podium, Ilyasov said: “This was my last juniors, I fought the Japanese in the first round and it feels like our team has faced them a lot here. At least we don’t have them in the team event, maybe in the semi-final if all goes well.”In the first semi-final Ilyasov thwarted Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist Domenik Schoenefeldt of Germany by two waza-ari scores as the Russian already looked to be on the verge of world glory. In the second semi-final Brazilian Goncalves, who was urged on by the most vocal team in the arena, bested Junior European Championships silver medallist Oleg Abaev (RUS). The Russian judoka was penalised twice for passivity before being submitted with shime-waza by the impressive Goncalves.

The first bronze medal was won by National Cadet Championships silver medallist Nikita Azarov (KAZ) who registered a score in each column as he dominated Abaev. A waza-ari, yuko and finally ippon, sent the Kazakhstan judoka fighter onto the podium for his country’s second medal of the competition. The second bronze medal was clinched by Prague Junior European Cup silver medallist Anton Savytskiy (UKR) who defeated Schoenefeldt by ippon with 14 seconds left having been in front by a waza-ari.