Elisavet Teltsidou (Photo by Photographs by Gabriela Sabau, Emanuele Di Feliciantonio/IJF)
Elisavet Teltsidou of Greece showed all of her power, scoring with an irresistible attack before finishing on the ground to claim her fifth grand slam title at the Hungary Grand Slam judo championships.
Teltsidou and Kaillany Cardoso of Brazil progressed to the women’s -70 kg final with dominant displays.
Cardoso reached the final after a strong 2026 campaign. The 22-year-old, a junior world silver medallist in 2023, took bronze at the Guadalajara Grand Prix in 2025 before earning silver at the La Nucia Benidorm European Open and the Lima Panamerican Open in 2026.
Teltsidou brought extensive experience to the final. She won at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in 2022 and at the Tbilisi, Qazaqstan Barysy and Baku grand Ssams in 2023. The Greek judoka took European silver in both 2024 and 2025. In 2026, she won the Mediterranean Games, claimed bronze at the Tashkent Grand Slam and placed fifth at the European Championships.
The Teltsidou declared, “It feels great to win another grand slam gold before the World Championships. I felt good right from my first fight, sticking to my style with big throws. My advice to young athletes wanting to throw like me is simple: practise, listen to your instincts and find your own style. The children here were super cute. I have nephews their age, so making them happy with autographs means a lot. The Budapest atmosphere is always great!“
Danno crowned champion with Golden Score
Kaja Kajzer Zabkar of Slovakia missed out on the gold to Japan’s Megu in the women’s -63 kg final. Kajzer Zabkar brought a substantial record at the top level, including European silver in 2024 and fifth place at the Tokyo Olympic Games. In 2026, the Slovenian won the Ljubljana European Open before taking bronze at the Tbilisi Grand Slam and placing fifth at the European Championships.
Danno took silver at the Tokyo Grand Slam in 2024 before winning gold at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in 2025. She also placed fifth at the Paris Grand Slam in 2025.
The final went into golden score before Danno found the decisive opening. The Japanese judoka scored a yuko with ko-uchi-gake to take gold.
Danno explained, “I knew that winning this grand slam was critical for me to remain competitive in the domestic selections, so I went into it with absolute determination to take the title. My final opponent, from Slovenia, was extremely powerful early on, so my plan was to weather that initial strength. Once the match progressed into the later stages, I was able to find my rhythm and knew it was my time to attack. The venue here in Budapest is massive and with so many supportive fans cheering me on, it didn’t feel like competing away from home at all.”
Hojo holds firm for -81kg gold
Yoshito Hojo of Japan and Serbian Mihajlo Simin clashed in the men’s -81 kg final. Hojo reached Budapest with a World Judo Tour record that included gold at the Dushanbe Grand Slam in 2024 and at the Qingdao Grand Prix in 2025. He added a bronze at the Tokyo Grand Slam in 2025 and placed fifth at the Paris Grand Slam in 2026.
Simin, 21, has established himself among the category’s most in-form athletes. The Serbian won his first grand prix title in Lima in 2025 before taking junior world bronze in the same period. In 2026, he claimed bronze at the European Championships and added bronze medals at the Tbilisi and Ulaanbaatar grand slams.
The final was intense from start to finish. Simin tried everything to find an opening, while Hojo controlled the exchanges and forced his opponent to take penalties. Golden score was needed to decide the result. Hojo remained patient, contained Simin’s attacks and once again induced an error. A third penalty for Simin gave the Japanese judoka the title.
After the final, Yoshito Hojo showed his satisfaction, “It has been a while since I last competed internationally, so I am extremely happy to win the gold medal. I think what made the difference between victory and defeat was my determination to keep attacking relentlessly without taking a break, which I believe was stronger than my opponent’s. So many young children came to watch today and were supporting me, which made me truly happy; I hope everyone continues to watch and support me moving forward.”
Mammadaliyev finds a beautiful finish
Rashid Mammadaliyev of Azerbaijan defeated Sweden’s Narek Vardanian for the men’s -73 kg title.
Still only 18, Vardanian had already taken silver at the 2025 European Junior Championships and placed fifth at the World Junior Championships in Lima. His progress continued in 2026 with bronze at the La Nucia/Benidorm European Open, fifth place at the Qingdao Grand Prix and another bronze at the Paks Junior European Cup.
Mammadaliyev entered the final as the more established athlete. Seventh in the world ranking before the event, he took bronze at the 2025 European Championships, silver at the Baku Grand Slam and bronze at the Paris Grand Slam. In 2026, he added another podium finish to his name with bronze at the Dushanbe Grand Slam.
Mammadaliyev put his opponent under pressure from the outset, forcing Vardanian to concede two penalties. With 30 seconds remaining, the Azerbaijani finally found the opening. After provoking a reaction with a tidy ko-uchi-gari, he slipped under his opponent and completed a beautiful seoi-otoshi for an indisputable ippon.
Rashid Mammadaliyev was very happy after the final, “I feel very happy taking the victory in Budapest. We did a great job with my coaches and medical team. Signing autographs for the children is important to me too because when I was a child, I wanted autographs from good judoka, too. I really liked the atmosphere in the arena. Today was my first time having six fights in a competition; every round was a battle. In the final against the Swedish judoka, I knew he had good leg techniques, so I stayed focused on not giving him any openings. Looking ahead to the Baku World Championships, my hope is to train hard and stay injury-free, but tomorrow I have time to celebrate the gold medal.”
