Korean Kim Won Jin gives home crowd golden victory

World number one and world bronze medallist Kim Won Jin from Korea defeated 2014 world champion Ganbat Boldbaatar (MGL) in the -60kg final in Jeju. Ganbat, who is still targeting his first gold medal since his success in Chelyabinsk last year, went ahead with a waza-ari before Kim was penalised with a shido for passivity.

Ganbat received a shido for going out of the area before Kim scored a waza-ari of his own and stepped up his workrate as he actively hunted down the Mongolian in the last minute. Ganbat received two shidos for passivity and Kim prevailed with three shidos against the former and only one against the home fighter. 

In the first semi-final Kim defeated Paris Grand Slam silver medallist Vincent Limare (FRA) by a yuko score after the Frenchman only went close with ashi-waza. In the second semi-final Ganbat bested World Judo Masters silver medallist Orkhan Safarov (AZE) with waza-ari and yuko scores going unanswered as both judoka were penalised twice.

The first bronze medal was claimed by European Games silver medallist Safarov who beat former Pan American Championships bronze medallist Javier Guedez (VEN). The 33-year-old Venezuelan veteran was competing for an IJF medal for the first time in his career and caught the eye in the opening rounds with some explosive ippon judo. Safarov is one of the premier judoka in the lightest men’s category and had too much quality for Guedez who didn’t give up a score but lost out on shido penalties with two against him while the Azerbaijan fighter posted an unblemished record. The second bronze medal went to Pan American Championships silver medallist Eric Takabatake (BRA) who defeated Limare in an absorbing contest. Takabatake won his fifth Grand Prix medal with victory against the young Frenchman. Brazil’s Takabatake opened the scoring with a yuko from an uchi-mata before adding a waza-ari from a ura-nage. To his credit Limare continued to press into the last seconds and registered a waza-ari on the buzzer but lost out by just a yuko.

For Kim it was his third consecutive victory at the Grand Prix of Jeju.