All it took was 15-seconds for Italian Giovanni Esposito to pin down the men’s -73 kg title at the Zagreb Grand Prix judo championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spaniard Anton Shuhalieiev and Esposito stepped on to the tatami with golden hopes, but for the former they were dashed almost instantly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A poor seoi-otoshi attack offered Esposito the chance to counter and he did it perfectly, throwing for ippon with a tightly held sumi-gaeshi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only 15 seconds had passed since the referee called, \u201cHajime!\u201d And Esposito was already the category\u2019s champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final of the men’s -81kg was a real clash of styles, the flamboyant, wild judo of Arnaud Aregba of France versus the considered work and power of Bernd Fasching of Austria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latter was frustrated by the unpredictability of Aregba who scored early and then continued to work on both sides, using a wide range of techniques. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dangerous with an uchi-mata, ko-uchi-gari and seoi-otoshi variations, Aregba never paused for a second but it was eventually an o-uchi-gaeshi which planted him on top of Fasching, finishing with the hold. This was a worthy gold medal and an entertaining one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The women’s -63 kg was contested by Angelika Szymanska of Poland, the 2024 world silver medallist, and Gili Sharir of Israel, the 2023 Paris Grand Slam winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became a shido battle very quickly, a close one, eventually finishing in Sharir\u2019s favour just 20 seconds into golden score. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hosts Croatia were missing Barbara Matic, the Olympic -women’s -70kg champion, who has stepped aside this year, still resting and planning after her Olympic triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clemence Eme of France had a spectacular day to make it to the final. The 28-year-old has no result on the World Judo Tour but does have a junior world medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the final, Eme faced world champion Shiho Tanaka. It was a close contest, perhaps closer than anyone expected, taking Tanaka six minutes of contest time to find the right moment to score. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had been trying in ne-waza but nothing had worked and in tachi-waza things were even. It was a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi two minutes into extra time that earned the winning yuko and Tanaka\u2019s gold medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. ESPOSITO Giovanni (ITA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. SHUHALIEIEV Anton (ESP)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. SKERLEV Victor (BUL)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. JEAN Peter (FRA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. KVANTIDZE Otari (POR)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. LEVY Benjamin (GBR)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. NURKOVIC Jahja (MNE)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. MOSIASHVILI Tornike (GEO)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. AREGBA Arnaud (FRA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. FASCHING Bernd (AUT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. IZAWA Naoto (JPN)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. ESPOSITO Antonio (ITA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. IHANAMAKI Eetu (FIN)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. GRAMATIKOV Georgi (BUL)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. GALANDARZADE Vusal (AZE)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. FERNANDO Joao (POR)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. SHARIR Gili (ISR)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. SZYMANSKA Angelika (POL)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. RENSHALL Lucy (GBR)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. OBERAN Iva (CRO)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. SHEMESH Inbal (ISR)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. AVANZATO Carlotta (ITA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. MAZOUZI Leila (SLO)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. KROPSKA Natalia (POL)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. TANAKA Shiho (JPN)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. EME Clemence (FRA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. ANDRIC Aleksandra (SRB)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. PEDROTTI Irene (ITA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. CVJETKO Lara (CRO)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. SOBIERAJSKA Katarzyna (POL)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. ERIKSSON Ida (SWE)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. KULIC Karla (CRO)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All it took was 15-seconds for Italian Giovanni Esposito to pin down the men’s -73 kg title at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-6111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-judo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\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\tMen’s -73 kg<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Men’s -81 kg<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Women’s -63 kg<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Women’s -70 kg<\/h4>\n\n\n\n