Tristani Mosakhlishvili steps up to golden level

Tristani Mosakhlishvili of Spain became the winner of the Grand Slam Qazaqstan Barysy. The Spainard defeated French Ngayap Hambou in the final and scored two waza-ari against Clerget in the semis.

Rafael Macedo (BRA) was the tournament's number one seed. Third in the World Judo Masters Jerusalem 2022, he could rely more recently on two podia climbed during the continental opens this season and on his now distant world junior title in 2014. It was without counting on the good form on the day of the French judoka Maxime-Gael Ngayap Hambou, who defied all predictions by eliminating the Brazilian champion in the semi-finals.

Before that, Ngayap Hambou completed a faultless run, eliminating Aram Grigorian (UAE) in the first round with a terrific tani-otoshi. Then it was the turn of Caramnob Sagaipov (LBN) and Khusen Khalmurzaev (AIN) to suffer the law of the French.

The final between Ngayap Hambou (FRA) and Mosakhlishvili (ESP) was going to be electric. It looked quite balanced between the two competitors, who entered the final minute with only one shido apiece but as Maxime-Gael Ngayap Hambou launched a sumi-gaeshi, Tristani Mosakhlishvili anticipated perfectly to follow on the floor and pin his opponent for ippon. This was the first appearance of the Spaniard at this level and for a debut, it's a big hit!

The first match for a bronze medal saw Khusen Khalmurzaev (AIN) and Axel Clerget (FRA) battling it out for the prestige and the metal. After the athletes received two shido each, Clerget took a strong lead with a makikomi for waza-ari and was close to scoring again with a left handed ko-uchi-gari after a clever change of direction. Controlling the rest of the contest, especially on the floor, Clerget could celebrate a new medal on the circuit, the 8th medal for the Frenchman.

In the second match for a bronze medal Theodoros Tselidis (GRE) and Rafael Macedo (BRA) confronted each other to complete the podium. Macedo entered the golden score period with two shido to his name as Tselidis was keeping the pressure on his opponent. After 44 seconds of extra time, Tselidis eventually found an opportunity with a seoi-nage that Rafael Macedo tried to counter but wasn’t strong enough for. There was a waza-ari and the bronze medal for Theodoros Tselidis, his first medal at grand slam level.