Continued Georgian & Japanese judoka success at Düsseldorf

Continued Georgian & Japanese judoka success at Düsseldorf
Copyright IJF
Copyright IJF
By Euronews
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Uzbekistan and Cameron also claim medals on the last day of the event

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On the last day of the Dusseldorf Grand Slam, Georgia’s 2018 world champion Guram Tushishvili was looking to sustain his country's success.

Yet in the final he faced Johannes Frey of Germany, the home favourite.

But even with the local crowd cheering him on, Frey could not defend against the Georgian’s huge drop technique for ippon.

The Grand Slam gold joins Guram Tushishvili’s growing collection as he looks to continue his dominance in the plus 100kg category.

"Of course, the support from Georgia and the fans is very important to me. It gives me plenty of power," he said after the final.

"When I heard and saw the atmosphere here and the crowd cheering me, this is very important to me, and a big responsibility."

Elsewhere, Japan’s 2018 world champion Shori Hamada was on fire throughout the day, winning every match with ippon before facing Brazil’s double world champion Mayra Aguiar in the final.

Hamada continued her winning streak against Aguiar, earning the gold medal with a tactful newaza.

It's her second Grand Slam title and raises Japan’s medal count to an impressive 10.

Speaking after her victory, Hamada paid tribute to Aguiar: “My Brazilian opponent in the final is a really strong player, so she escaped many times, but I was really determined to get the ippon as I had a good position and that was the result.”

Winning his first Grand Slam gold medal was Uzbekistan’s Davlat Bobonov.

He did one better than his silver medal success in Osaka by dispatching his Ukrainian opponent with two wazaris in quick succession.

IJF Sport Director Armen Bagdasarov presented Bobonov with his medal.

Uzbekistan doubled its medal haul with gold in the -100kg category.

Coached by Olympic and three-time world champion Ilias Iliadis, Mukhammadkarim Khurramov tactfully defeated Azerbaijan’s Elmar Gasimov by shido.

In over 78kg category, yet another world champion from 2018, this time Sarah Asahina of Japan, won the gold medal with penalties.

The moment of the day came from a bronze medal match when Cameroon’s Hortence Vanessa Mballa Atangana defeated France’s Anne Fatoumata M'Bairo with two opportune wazaris.

It meant Atangana could take home not just her first ever Grand Slam medal, but the first to be won by her country.

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It was a beautiful moment to end another successful World Judo Tour Grand Slam.

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