The Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam concluded with an incredible twenty-seven nations winning medals with the spread of medals seeing judokas from Europe, Asia, Africa and Pan-America all featuring athletes in the final block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this third and final day of competition, five different countries won gold medals, including the host nation. Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko followed her magnificent world championship gold from only three weeks ago with a gold on home soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arriving on home soil with a new red back patch must be both empowering and nerve-racking. Confidence and pressure can be felt at the same time for any judoka working at this level. Lytvynenko found herself in this position in Abu Dhabi and going into the women’s -78kg final, the crowd was absolutely with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lytvynenko, the world number two and world number five Patricia Sampaio of Portugal delivered an exceptionally high level final, one that was balancing on a knife edge. With either judoka poised to claim the win at any moment, furious attacks coming from white and blue, the volume rose in the Mubadala Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After two minutes of extra time Sampaio had two penalties and Lytvynenko had one but there were spells of dominance from both. However, a minute later, Sampaio attacked with a seoi-otoshi that lacked a little movement and Lytvynenko capitalised, countering for a waza-ari and the gold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel good, said Lytvynenko, \u201cI\u2019m tired but I’m happy because it feels like home and I am so glad to win a gold medal for my country. It was tough coming straight from the World Championships with such a short turnaround, especially after my training camp in Baku but we are here and we took the gold medal. My opponent is a very good fighter with strong techniques. It’s a very good feeling to fight here and this is very important for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The women’s +78kg category was destined to be dominated by world and Olympic medallist Raz Hershko of Israel. Her determined attitude and fast seoi-otoshi attacks, among others, always put her opponents ill at ease. She reached the final without a hitch but a very well researched Helena Vukovic of Croatia was not going to let it be a walkover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vukovic gripped excellently to neutralise Hershko\u2019s usual attacks but Hershko has other strings to her bow. She began to mix up the techniques, adding ashi-waza to the mix and coming close to taking a lead just a minute before the end. Vukovic escaped, just, and so the stalemate, albeit a dynamic one, continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vukovic made the most of the additional time afforded to them in golden score. She raised the pace and attacked more frequently, forcing penalties against Hershko which eventually totalled three, signifying the end of the contest. Hershko, the favourite, had a new silver medal, while Helena Vukovic, having played an excellent strategy, have her a first grand slam gold medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling really happy with my first grand slam gold medal, especially after getting my first win over an amazing opponent, staying focused and executing our tactics,\u201d said Helena Vukovic. \u201cIt lifts a huge weight off my shoulders to start my Olympic qualification with such a strong result. I always love competing in Abu Dhabi and I’m super excited to head to Zagreb next for the grand prix, to perform in front of our incredibly supportive home crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nemanja Majdov of Serbia, a world and European champion, has been in great form for quite some time but all good things come to an end in the and in Abu Dhabi he was caught short, leaving space for a number of other contenders to try their luck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following excellent performances in the men’s -90kg category preliminary rounds, Ivaylo Ivanov of Bulgaria and Mihail Latisev of Moldova stepped forward to fight for gold. From the outset the latter appeared to have the measure of his opponent; a hold secured a yuko score after a mistake from Ivanov and a seoi-otoshi that came after Ivanov\u2019s escape delivered a waza-ari to the Moldovan to extend his lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ivanov is not someone who settles for the run of play and a change in gear saw him earn his own waza-ari with a well placed ko-uchi-gake. He followed it up soon after with a seoi-otoshi of his own to double his score and take the win out of the pocket of potential defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ivanov shared his thoughts after the final, “I feel very good, working with my first coach and club again. Sometimes they believe in me more than I believe in myself. After many injuries last year, I’m still competing and I hope to see you in Los Angeles. I want to thank my family for pushing me and show my children to never give up, no matter my age. I made a mistake but my coach kept me going, reminding me to keep doing my job because everything comes if you continue. Abu Dhabi is a lucky and special place for me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frenchman Aurelien Diesse impressed throughout the morning with his confidence and highly active style. A fighter not afraid to throw powerfully and with full commitment, he outdid his rank and pushed through to the final. Russian Idar Bifov moved into the final, challenging opponent for anyone in the category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was an explosive contest that looked to be heading France\u2019s way. Diesse had the energy and dynamic movement and he seemed fired up to attack. He scored a yuko after 90 seconds had passed but during the same exchange, Bifov took the advantage and turned a deficit into a win, armlocking Diesse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From his place at 129th in the world ranking, Diesse can be proud of his new sil ver medal but the crown was Bifov\u2019s, his second grand slam gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the final, Idar Bifov said, \u201cI feel joy and happiness. The first bout was harder than the final but I managed to win the gold medal this year in Abu Dhabi, just like last year. Before the final, we analysed the Frenchman’s previous match and my coach helped me prepare, pointeing out the mistakes I needed to avoid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Georgian Irakli Demetrashvili and Ushangi Kokauri of Azerbaijan were the eventual finalists but who would take the men’s +100kg crown could not be guessed in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was an entertaining contest with both judoka focused on finding that one all-important score that would carry them to the top of the podium. There can only be one winner though and in this case it was Demetrashvili who tipped the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Georgian judoka put together a neat combination to throw his Azerbaijani opponent, transitioning to osaekomi to seal the deal. An impressive silver medal has been earned by Kokauri on the back of his world championship success, while Demetrashvili claimed a superb gold medal to add to his growing collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter missing a medal at the World Championships in Baku, I improved my condition and am thrilled to become a double grand slam gold medallist.\u201d Irakli Demetrashvili was happy to be interviewed after the final. \u201cWinning in Tbilisi and adding several medals to my list this season has been very satisfying. Training with legends like Lasha Shavdatuashvili teaches me valuable lessons, as every win or loss provides details to analyse and improve step-by-step. While I am happy with my progress, I am also looking ahead to events like the Tokyo Grand Slam, but I won’t be fully satisfied until I win a world championship gold medal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam concluded with an incredible twenty-seven nations winning medals with the spread of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-17286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-judo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t