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Kosuke Mashiyama can now win Grand Slams

Kosuke Mashiyama can now win Grand Slams

7 Nov 2021 18:40
IJF Media team
ejudo

Write down the names: Mammadali Mehdiyev, Nemanja Majdov, Beka Gviniashvili, Altanbagana Gantulga. The U90kg category at the Grand Slam in Baku was as if we had found the legion of the Roman Empire that disappeared in the Middle East. All veterans, centurions hardened in a thousand battles.

They do not understand luck, they have too much experience for that and they fight with the desire of newcomers because everyone seeks the glory they lost; all but one. Mehdiyev, out of patriotic pride, as he fights at home and because when he is fine he is fearsome; he endured until the end. He comes from winning in Zagreb and remains in the top ten. In the final he faced the Japanese Kosuke Mashiyama, 22 years old and not wanting to respect the hierarchy.

In other words, the creeping strength of Mehdiyev versus the unceasing technical flair of the Japanese made for an attractive final. With such extreme opposing styles it looked like two different sports but with the same rules. Mashiyama eventually won by three shido but this was not indicative of the pace, ferocity and explosive technical power on display.

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