Matvey Kanikovskiy defeats Bilalov for gold in Dushanbe

Matvey Kanikovskiy (AIN) and Niiaz Bilalov (AIN) did not leave many crumbs for the opposition and qualified for the final of the category, undoubtedly always one of the most disputed on the world circuit. Kanikovskiy and Bilalov were definitely the strong men of the day. They still had to decide between themselves who would go for gold.

The category concluded with the victory of Matvey Kanikovskiy, who scored a first waza-ari with uchi-mata, confirmed a few seconds later with a sumi-gaeshi with a neat change of direction for ippon.

Holder of a bronze medal in a grand slam, Otabek Turaboev (UZB) who is only 25 years old, still has a future ahead of him. His qualification for the final block could represent a click but before that he had to face Zlatko Kumric (CRO) for a place on the podium. Unfortunately for Turaboev, today Zlatko Kumric was stronger and proved it by pinning his opponent for ippon.

Mathias Madsen (DEN) came from afar to compete in Dushanbe, with the possibility of coming away with a medal after facing the rough Gonchigsuren Batkhuyag (MGL). The Mongolian judoka secured the bronze medal after a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi for no score but immediately followed on the floor where he pinned Mathias Madsen for ippon. Madsen couldn't reproduce his Austrian performance, where he won the bronze medal. It was bronze for Gonchigsuren Batkhuyag.