Double gold for Azerbaijan by Shikhalizada and Mushkiyev

The final of the Grand Prix of Qingdao U66kg was decided in one minute when World number two Davaadorj made one mistake against Azeri Nijat Shikhalizada. It confirmed the beauty of judo at the highest level where any mistake is dealt with by the opponent.

For the first time on day one, the last male final opposed the two top seeded athletes of the category as world number two, Davaadorj Tumurkhuleg (MGL), winner of the last Paris Grand Slam, faced world number seven Nijat Shikhalizada (AZE), winner of the Baku Grand Slam, earlier this year.

With an aerial ura-nage (counterattack), Shikhalizada didn’t give a single chance to Davaadorj to top again the medal podium.

The first bronze medal fight opposed world number 26, Elio Verde (ITA) and world number 12 and winner of the Düsseldorf Grand Prix this season, Takaichi Kengo (JPN). The Japanese fighter led by a yuko until the last seconds of the combat as Verde was totally controlled by his younger rival, who finally held down Verde for ippon.

The second Italian of the category, who so far was much less known than his compatriot Verde, Matteo Piras, was also in contention for a place on the podium. Opposed to the Korean Kim Limhwan, he was unfortunate as well and lost on the same score, the only difference being that this time it was with a counterattack for ippon.

Since the first edition of the GP Qingdao in 2009 Russia won four times, in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. Suddenly Azerbaijan has two gold medals it happened for the last time at 21 March 2014 in Samsun, by Shikhalizada and Safarov.