Russian Uali Kurzhev claims first Grand Prix gold

Russian judoka Uali Kurzhev has pushed himself to the forefront of Ezio Gamba’s plans after winning his first Grand Slam and Grand Prix titles in the last six months. Kurzhev, Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist, won his country’s Grand Slam in Tyumen and has now topped the Grand Prix podium after denying Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist Saiyinjirigala (CHN) a home victory.

The Russian was penalised after 51 seconds for passivity but produced the first and only score in the gold medal contest with a spinning ko-soto-gake for ippon with 94 seconds remaining.

In the first semi-final Saiyinjirigala held down Taipei Asian Open silver medallist Chuang Shang Chin (TPE) for 15 seconds for his second and match-winning waza-ari. In the second semi-final IJF World Judo Tour tyro Takeuchi Nobuyasu (JPN) was thrown by Kurzhev with a ko-soto-gari for ippon after one minute.

The first bronze medal contest saw a straightforward victory for Takeuchi against tai-otoshi artist Yang Yifan (CHN). Takeuchi scored a yuko with an uchi-mata before adding a waza-ari with a tai-otoshi of his own and the Japanese sealed a fine performance by holding down a well-beaten Yang with a mune-gatame for 15 seconds. The second bronze medal went to former Jeju World Cup silver medallist Lee Young Jun (KOR) who bested Chuang to win his first IJF Grand Prix medal. Lee fell into the hold down and controlled Chuang for the full 20 seconds for the maximum score to continue his country’s strong start to the medal action on day two.

Uali Kurzhev broke through all judo barriers when he won the Grand Slam in Tyumen in 2015 U73kg. He already won bronze in 2014. He is twin brother of Ali Khurzev. He was World Sambo champion U74kg in 2012. From Cherkessk, the republic of Karachay-Cherkessia. World Cup Sambo, Champion 2013 Universiade. He won bronze at the Grand Prix in Tashkent in 2016, but now gold in Qingdao.