David Karapetyan convinces with Grand Slam gold

Frank de Wit was back in a Grand Slam final. But the Dutchman had David Karapetyan as opponent in the final. From the start of the final, it wouldn’t go the distance, as both judoka were taking risks to throw. With one minute remaining, the first score came from Karapetyan after a confused sequence that led to a counter-attack. Karapetyan controlled the last seconds to win his first grand slam gold medal. It was a full four minutes after all.

The first match for a bronze medal saw Wachid Borchashvili (AUT) and Joao Fernando (POR) face off. During the first sequence on the floor, Fernando was in danger as Borchashvili tried to apply an armlock while freeing his leg for an immobilisation. That was too much for the Portugese judoka, who tapped out. The bronze medal was for Wachid Borchashvili.

In the second match for a bronze medal Nugzari Tatalashvili (UAE) faced Antonio Esposito (ITA). The Emirati judoka took the match in his hands and quickly grabbed the lead with a kata-guruma for waza-ari. He then controlled the rest of the contest to take the bronze medal in front of the happy crowd.

In the second part of the draw, several athletes were interesting to follow. 10th in the world rankings, Frenchman Alpha Oumar Djalo hoped to be able to continue his momentum from the start of the season, which had seen him reach the podium in Jerusalem, Paris and Antalya, not to mention his victory in Zagreb in 2022. But it was a day without for Djalo who lost as soon as he entered the tournament, against Nugzari Tatalashvili (UAE). Motivated more than ever while competing at home, Tatalashvili did not find the solution against Joao Fernando (POR) though and the Portuguese judoka qualified for the semi-final.

In the second part of the draw, several athletes were interesting to follow. 10th in the world rankings, Frenchman Alpha Oumar Djalo hoped to be able to continue his momentum from the start of the season, which had seen him reach the podium in Jerusalem, Paris and Antalya, not to mention his victory in Zagreb in 2022. But it was a day without for Djalo who lost as soon as he entered the tournament, against Nugzari Tatalashvili (UAE). Motivated more than ever while competing at home, Tatalashvili did not find the solution against Joao Fernando (POR) though and the Portuguese judoka qualified for the semi-final.

In pool D, Somon Makhmadbekov (TJK) was the favourite but he lost to young Giacomo Gamba, son of the famous Olympic champion, Ezio Gamba. For Gamba, a wall now stood in front of him in the shape of the hyperactive Frank De Wit (NED). A mistake ruined all his medal hopes and was fatal. Gamba actually leaned on his head during an attempt to throw and he was logically disqualified, before being defeated again, in the repechage. Giacomo Gamba brought fantastic, dynamic judo and had the ability to win well but was unfortunately and deservedly disqualified for a head-dive against De Wit and then couldn’t settle enough to win in the repechage. He has real ability but must control his technical choices so as not to break the rules in the process of applying potentially masterful techniques.

Since the start of the competition we have discovered a Canadian team in very good shape, especially among the women. François Gauthier Drapeau, being seeded number one, hoped to deliver the same impression but unfortunately for him he did not get past the first round, defeated by Nurbek Murtozoev (UZB). The latter was in turn beaten by David Karapetyan (AIN) who then scored a significant victory against Wachid Borchashvili (AUT), winner of the Tbilisi Grand Slam in March. Finally, in the semi-final, Karapetyan gave no chance to the Italian Antonio Esposito who until then had offered a flawless performance.