ASTANA 2015 WORLD JUDO CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Contents 5

Foreword by Marius Vizer

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The Draw

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Day 1 : Women’s -48 kg

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Day 1 : Men’s -60 kg

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Day 2 : Women’s -52 kg

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Day 2 : Men’s -66 kg

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Day 3 : Women’s -57 kg

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Day 3 : Men’s -73 kg

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Day 4 : Women’s -63 kg

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Day 4 : Men’s -81 kg

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Day 5 : Women’s -70 kg

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Day 5 : Women’s -78 kg

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Day 5 : Men’s -90 kg

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Day 6 : Women’s +78 kg

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Day 6 : Men’s -100 kg

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Day 6 : Men’s +100 kg

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Day 7 : Men’s team event

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Day 7 : Women’s team event

Competition reports copyright © by Oon Yeoh and all pictures (unless attributed to others) copyright © by David Finch

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General Stats by Hans van Essen

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Hall of Fame

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Interview with Larisa Kiss

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Interview with Neil Adams

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Interview with David McFall

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Interview with Karen Briggs

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Interview with Haruki Uemura

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Covering my first world Championships : Shen Yeoh

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Olympic motherhood : Marijana Miskovic

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2017 Budapest World Judo Championships

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Acknowledgements

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Foreword by

Marius Vizer IJF President “The IJF World Judo Championships 2015 were a fantastic occasion for our sport, athletes, judo fans and the debutant host city of Astana, Kazakhstan. I am delighted to note that the World Judo Championships found resonance amongst sports fans across the world on an unprecedented scale this year. The remarkable quality of action on display has gone a long way in attracting more sports fans to live coverage of judo and created greater understanding of the sport. I would like to thank all our partners for their efforts in taking the sport to wider audiences and raising the profile of judo worldwide. I hope you will all enjoy this special e-book looking back at all the unforgettable moments from the week-long showpiece of the IJF World Judo Tour�.

Marius L. Vizer IJF President

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IJF President Marius Vizer (centre) addresses the coaches and delegates during the 2015 Astana draw

The Draw “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues and members of the media, it is an honour for us to organise this World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan,” said IJF President Marius Vizer in his opening address at the draw. “I wish the athletes good luck and a lot of success. I hope the behaviour of everyone is according to the level of the organisation. I would like to thank the Government of Kazakhstan, the Sports Ministry and the Kazakhstan Judo Federation. I wish you all the best and a successful stay in Kazakhstan.”

Five of the sport’s top competitors shared the stage with the delegations from the IJF and local organizing committee.

Paula Pareto (ARG): “I don’t feel any difference in who I fight against because at this level you will come up against the best athletes and have to beat them if you want to be the champion.”

Clarisse Agbegnenou (FRA): “This competition is very important for me. I have been in the last two world finals and I hope to achieve that one more time. I want to keep my red back number as the world champion in the build-up to the Olympic Games.”

Azamat Mukanov (KAZ): “Welcome all delegates to the World Championships 2015. We have all been training very hard for this event and as a team will do everything to try to win at this event.”

Mikhail Pulyaev (RUS): “We are feeling very well prepared for the World Championships, the draw for me is good and may the best man win.”

Riki Nakaya: (JPN): “I have won the worlds twice but I have a habit of dropping my level the year after I win so I don’t want to focus on that too much. I want to focus on each fight and give my all for Japan.”

The delegates, coaches and IJF directors stand respectfully while the IJF’s newly launched anthem is played

The coaches and delegates gather for the Draw of the Individual Competitions

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German coach, Michael Bazynski, intensely watches the electronic draw board George Kerr CBE of Great Britain, who is a 10th dan and has the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, addresses the delegates

Ki-Young Jeon of South Korea who was inducted into the IJF’s Hall of Fame watches the draw

Competition manager, Lisa Allan, speaks to the audience

The five champions take questions from the audience

The coaches and delegates watch the large electronic board as the competitors are added by the computer

A delegate for the Draw gives the thumbs up before entering the room

8 References to ‘top-seeded’ in the following report refers to the top-ranked player in each particular pool and obviously not the whole category.

Day 1: Women’s -48 kg

Former world champion, Haruna Asami of Japan looks towards the referee after throwing Shira Rishony of Israel for an ippon as she progressed to the u48kg final and the silver medal

Japan is traditionally very strong in this category although in recent years 2013 world champion Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia has grown to become a top favourite. To increase its chances at gold, Japan entered two world champions, Ami Kondo, who had won her world title in 2014 at the age of 19 and 27 year old Haruna Asami, who had won hers in 2010 and 2011.

Pool A: Haruna Asami (JPN)

Asami proved she was far from past her prime by topping her pool and defeating Munkhbat along the way. She won her first match, against Israel’s Shira Rishony, with uchimata for ippon. That pit her up against Munkhbat, whom she defeated narrowly by shido. She won her next match more decisively against Ukraine’s Maryna Cherniak, with a hold down for ippon.

Pool B: Taciana Lima (GBS)

Marina Cherniak of Ukraine attempts to armlock Dayaris Mestre Alvarez of Cuba eventually winning their u48kg contest by 2 penalty points to the Cuban

Brazilian-born Taciana Lima, who fights for Guinea-Bissau, is the top seed here. But it was another Brazilian, the lesser-known Nathalia Brigida, who emerged the victor. She won her first match, against Moldova’s Cristina Budescu, by throwing her twice before pinning her for ippon. Next, she beat Kyrgystan’s Anara Zhumali with a massive osotogari for ippon in just under a minute. Turkey’s Dilara Lokmanhekim proved to a tougher opponent and Brigida had to be content with an osoto-gari for yuko during Golden Score. Her next opponent, Romania’s Monica Ungureanu, also took her to Golden Score. Brigida won that one with a very low koshi-guruma for waza-ari.

Pool C: Paula Pareto (ARG)

This pool looked to be the hardest one of all with Argentina’s World Silver Medalist Paula Pareto, Brazil’s Olympic Champion Sarah Menezes, Belgium’s Charline Van Snick and Hungary’s Champion Eva Csernoviczki – both European champions – all battling for pole position. Pareto proved that her silver medal last year was no fluke by emerging victor. She has a very powerful drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi which she used to great effect in her first match, against Vietnam’s Van Ngoc Tu. She threw twice with it – once for yuko and once for waza-ari (though it could have easily been an ippon).

Her next match was a bruising battle with Belgium’s Van Snick. Pareto had to rely on penalties to win that one. Just as tough was Hungary’s Csernoviczki but this time Pareto managed to drop underneath with a cross-grip seoi-nage for ippon.

Pool D: Jeong Bo-Kyeong (KOR)

All eyes were on 2014 Chelyabinsk World Champion Kondo who looked like she had a clear run to the top. As it turned out, little-known Jeong Bo-Kyeong of South Korea got in her way. The scrappy Jeong won her first match, against Kazakhstan’s Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh with a shido in Golden Score. She then showed her throwing power by beating Spain’s Julia Figueroa with a cross-grip osoto-gari for ippon. That matched her up against Kondo, whom she fought tactically and surprised with a drop morote-seoinage for yuko. It was enough for her to win the match and a place in the semi-finals.

Semi-final Asami convincingly defeated Brigida with kouchi-gari for waza-ari and then pinned her for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon to get to the final. Lima won that one with a very low koshiguruma for waza-ari.

Marina Cherniak of Ukraine throws Bo Kyeong Jeong of Korea without score eventually losing the u48kg medal to Jeong by an ippon

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Semi-Final

Asami convincingly defeated Brigida with kouchi-gari for waza-ari and then pinned her for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon to get to the final.

Pareto only managed to throw Jeong for yuko with her trademark drop sode-tsuri-komigoshi but it was enough to win the match.

Bronze

Jeong, who had been impressive all day, won her bronze medal in style by throwing Cherniak with a neat side-takedown for ippon. Kondo, who is good at groundwork, pinned Brigida for ippon to win her bronze medal, although it seemed like little consolation to the 2014 World Champion.

Former world champion, Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia (white) tries to throw Haruna Asami of Japan but does so without a score eventually losing the u48kg contest by a shido penalty while Asami reached the final and the silver medal

Double world champion, Haruna Asami of Japan reaches the u48kg final after holding Nathalia Brigida of Brazil

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Gold

The final was a classic case of technique versus tactics and this time, tactics won out. Asami looked dominating at first, unleashing a flurry of attacks that nearly threw Pareto several times. At one point, Asami was ahead after Pareto got a shido for passivity. That penalty must have shook up the Argentinian who immediately switched gears and started attacking Asami non-stop, causing the Japanese to accrue two penalties by the time the clock ran out. Her strategy worked and Pareto, who was a 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medallist, was able to add gold to her world silver medal from last year.

Paula Pareto of Argentina, here attacking, defeated double world champion, Haruna Asami of Japan by a single shido (penalty) to win the u48kg (extra-lightweight) gold medall

Paula Pareto of Argentina (blue) defeated double world champion, Haruna Asami of Japan by a single shido (penalty) to win the u48kg (extra-lightweight) gold medal

Under 48kg (extra-lightweight) medallists (L-R): Silver; Haruna Asami (Japan), Gold; Paula Pareto (Argentina), bronzes; Bo Kyeong Jeong (South Korea) and Ami Kondo (Japan)

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Women’s -48 kg Medallists

Under 48kg gold medallist, Paula Pareto of Argentina

Under 48kg bronze medallist Ami Kondo of Japan who was the gold medallist in 2014

Under 48kg silver medallist and former double World champion, Haruna Asami of Japan stands respectfully during the Argentine national anthem

Under 48kg bronze medallist, Bo Kyeong Jeong (South Korea)

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Women’s -48 kg Statistics The 40 participants U48kg was more than the last two editions

It was for the first time since 2005 that a Non-Asian country won the world title U48kg. See the champions above. The last European champion was in 1991, Cecile Nowak (FRA).

None of the London 2012 -48kg Olympic podium were on the stage on day one. Olympic champion Sarah Menezes lost to Charline van Snick (3) who lost her match against Pareto, while also Csernoviczki (3) lost to the Argentine winner, who finished fifth at the 2012 Olympics.

Paula Pareto has become the best ever judoka of Argentina with her gold medal, and silver in 2014 and Olympic bronze in Bejing 2008. Other world medals were achieved by Daniela Krukower in 2003 in Osaka who took the world title U63kg and Carolina Mariani who lost the world Championships final in 1995.

Of the last three World Champions U48kg Paula Pareto had the best results in her preparation. Two gold medals at Pan American Opens and two Grand Prix victories. Ami Kondo had only won the Japanese senior and junior title in 2014, while Munkhbat Urantsetseg won one Grand Prix in 2013 in advance of her world title.

In the category U48kg the numbers 2 (Pareto) 3 (Kondo), 13 (Asami) and 16 (Jeong) medalled at day 1. In 2014 1 (Munkhbat), 5 (Laborde), 18 (Kondo) and 19 (Buchard) medalled. In 2013 1 (Menezes), 2 (Asami), 3 (Van Snick) and 6 (Munkhbat) medalled.

With 29 years, Paula Pareto is the second oldest world champion U48kg. Only Ryoko Tani was older (32) in 2007 when she won her last of 7 World titles. Pareto is the 10th oldest over all weight categories

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The top nations U48kg since the weight change in 1998 are

It simply tells that the Asian and Pan American nations are clearly dominating.

Ami Kondo youngest medallist Mami Umeki was the second youngest medallist in Astana. Ami Kondo won bronze, also 20 years, but a few months younger. In the top five, four youngsters from Japan. Iakiv Khammo was the European sensation from the Ukraine winning bronze +100kg.

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Day 1: Men’s -60 kg Two top players were missing from the -60kg competition: the No. 1 ranking Orkhan Safarov of Azerbaijan and former World Champion Naohisa Takato of Japan. However, the gold and silver medalists from the 2014 Chelyabinsk World Championships, Ganbat Boldbaatar of Mongolia and Beslan Mudranov of Russia, were there. In addition, up-and-coming players like Uzbekistan’s Sharafuddin Lutfillaev and South Korean’s Kim Won-Jin were competing as well.

So, there were plenty of good fights to be seen.

Pool A: Ganbat Boldbaatar (MGL)

The top seed here was defending World Champion Ganbat Boldbaatar of Mongolia but he had not won an IJF circuit event since winning the world title in Chelyabinsk. Still, it was he who was most likely to top this pool. His first match, against Bekir Ozlu of Turkey, was a lacklustre affair which he won by yuko. His next match, against Israel’s Artiom Arshanki, was worse and he had to scrape through by penalties. Ganbat redeemed himself in his next match, when he threw Brazil’s Felipe Kitadai with sumi-gaeshi for ippon. This earned him a place in the semi-finals.

Toru Shishime of Japan throws Mohamed Jafy of Morocco for ippon as he progressed to the u60kg bronze medal

Pool B: Rustam Ibrayev (KAZ)

Uzbekistan’s Sharafuddin Lutfillaev is considered to be one of the most promising newcomers. He is not that well-known but he did well to win the Samsun Grand Prix and Tblisi Grand Prix this year.

The more famous Amiran Papinashvili of Georgia was in his pool though. As it turned out, it was the even lesser-known Rustam Ibrayev of Kazakhstan who emerged top of this pool. Ibrayev began his campaign by throwing Bulgaria’s Yanislav Gerchev with a tomoe-nage for yuko. He then defeated Ecuador’s Lenin Preciado with osoto-gari, also for yuko. This brought him up against the formidable Papinashvili but he handily defeated the Georgian with a sumi-gaeshi for waza-ari. He had another tough fight after that, against South Korea’s very tactical Choi In-Hyuk. Ibrayev was down on penalties when he pulled off a tewaza counter which scored waza-ari in the last minute.

Pool C: Shishime Toru (JPN)

South Korea’s Kim Won-Jin was the top favorite here. If Japan had entered Takato, he would have been the top favorite but Japan’s entrant for this weight class is the lesser-known Shishime Toru (ranked 11th). Shishime proved that he was the right choice by topping this pool though. First, he beat Mohamed Jafy of Morocco with a dazzling uchimata for ippon. Then, he threw Taiwan’s rising star, Tsai Ming Yen, with the same technique, except this time it was for waza-ari. His next fight, against Brazil’s Eric Takabatake was a hard fought one and he ended up winning by penalties. His biggest challenge however, was South Korea’s Kim, whom he also defeated by penalties

Pool D: Yeldos Smetov (KAZ)

Russia’s Beslan Mudranov was the one to look out for. He hadn’t competed a whole lot since getting the silver medal at the last world championships however he was the reigning European champion. In his pool was Yeldos Smetov who didn’t seem to be of the same stature but who had the benefit home ground advantage. Mudranov didn’t seem to be focused and in his very first fight as he was countered

by Uzbekistan’s Diyorbek Urozboez for ippon Smetov, in contrast, had his eyes on the prize and fought with style and strategically. He won his first match, against Finland’s Juho Reinvall, via hansoku-make after the Finnish player accrued four shidos.

As if to prove he had throwing power as well, Smetov then saw off Saudi Arabia’s Eisa Majrashi, with a cross-grip side-takedown for ippon. He had a slightly harder time with Mexico’s Nabor Castillo, who took him to time, though he won with drop ippon-seoi-nage and drop tai-otoshi for yuko each time. His next match, against Uzbekistan’s Uroboez promised to be even tougher but Smetov took him apart, throwing him with a side-takedown for waza-ari, followed with a drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for yuko.

Under 60kg defending World cham defeated Bekir Ozlu of Turkey in th

15 Jeroen Mooren of the Netherlands holds Tom Schmit of Luxembourg for ippon but lost his next u60kg match and was unable to reach the finals

Semi-Finals

brayev had a tough time with the defending champion Ganbat, who was more experienced and more tactical. Ibrayev was actually losing on penalties when he struck back with his favourite sumi-gaeshi. It looked like Ganbat had landed on his front and the throw was not initially given a score but it was later awarded a yuko. Ibrayev was through to the final. Smetov had an equally hard time with Shishime but managed to edge ahead with a neat side-takedown for yuko. He then held on to the lead and was dangerously close to getting his fourth shido when time ran out. He too was in the final, which would be an all-Kazakhstan affair.

Won Jin Kim of South Korea (white) defeated Tsogtbaatar Tsendochir of Mongolia by a yuko (5 points) as he progressed to the u60kg bronze medal

mpion and top seed, Boldbaatar Ganbat of Mongolia he second round but could only finish in 5th place

Bekir Ozlu of Turkey throws Indrit Cullhaj of Albania for ippon (10 points) but could not progress beyond the second round of the u60kg category

To the great joy of the home crowd, Rustam Ibrayev of Kazakhstan (blue) here attacking, defeated Boldbaatar Ganbat of Mongolia by a yuko to reach the u60kg final and the silver medal

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Bronze

Shishime, perhaps incensed by his defeat in the semi-final, unleashed all his fury onto Brazil’s Kitadai and bested him with a massive osoto-gari for ippon. Kim had a much harder time with the canny Ganbat but the South Korean managed to win with a very low, delayed drop ippon-seoi-nage which scored yuko. It was enough to win him the bronze.

Gold

With both fighters playing it safe, the final was a bit anti-climactic. In a purely tactical match, Smetov emerged victor through a single penalty. The duo had created history though, winning gold and silver for Kazakhstan in the same category.

Kim Won Jin of South Korea (white) defeated Boldbaatar Ganbat of Mongolia by a yuko (5 points) to secure the u60kg (extra-lightweight) bronze medal

Toru Shishime of Japan (blue) throws Felipe Kitadai of Brazil for an ippon to win the u60kg (extra-lightweight) bronze medal during the 2015 Astana World Judo Championships

Under 60kg (extra-lightweight) medallists (L-R): Silver; Ruslam Ibrayev (KAZ), Gold; Yeldos Smetov (KAZ), bronzes; Toru Shishime (JPN) and Won Jin Kim (KOR)

Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan (blue) won the u60kg (extra-lightweight) gold medal after defeating his fellow countryman, Ruslam Ibrayev, by the narrow margin of a shido (3 point) penalty to Ibrayev

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Men’s -60 kg Medallists

Under 60kg (extra-lightweight) gold medallist, Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan

Under 60kg bronze medallist Won Jin Kim (South Korea)

Under 60kg silver medallist Ruslam Ibrayev (Kazakhstan)

Under 60kg (extra-lightweight) bronze medallist, Toru Shishime (Japan)

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Men’s -60 kg Statistics Kazakh judoka Yeldos Smetov and Rustam Ibrayev were in the -60kg final.

It was the first time two judoka from nation contested a World Championships final since 2011.

A host country last provided both finalists at a World Championships in 2010.

2011 Wen Tong and Qian Qin (CHN) O78kg 2011 Misato Nakamura and Yuka Nishida (JPN) U52kg 2011 Haruna Asami and Tomoko Fukumi (JPN) U48kg It was for the last in 2010 for the host nation enjoying an all nation’s final 2010 Yuka Nishida and Misato Nakamura (JPN) U52kg The 61 participants U60kg was equal to the field in 2013 and 2014

There was no European country represented in the quarter final -60kg. This was for the first time in history of the World Championships since the new weight categories changed in 1998. Only at the 2010 World Championships the women’s heavyweight category +78kg had just one European representative, 6 Asians, 1 Cuban and 1 Polish fighter.

At the 2010 World Championships Open category for men, also 7 Asian’s were in the quarter finals. Teddy Riner was the only European, finishing second, his last loss by the way.

The whole 2014 World Championships podium were beaten this time around. Ganbat Boldbaatar (MGL) was the last man standing with his fifth place. Papinashvili and Mudranov lost quickly while Takato didn’t participate.

In the men’s division U60kg there’s a big spread of winning nations

Rishod Sobirov on behalf of Uzbekistan leads the medal table since 1998.

19 Japanese culture, Judo and its philosophy were important parts of the Opening Ceremony on the first day of the 2015 Astana World Judo Championships

World Champions U60kg

Judo and Respect was the key theme of the Opening Ceremony on the first day of the 2015 Astana World Judo Championships

Under 60kg (extra-lightweight) medallists (L-R): Silver; Ruslam Ibrayev (KAZ), Gold; Yeldos Smetov (KAZ), bronzes; Toru Shishime (JPN) and Won Jin Kim

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Day 2: Women’s -52 kg

Odette Giuffrida of Italy, here trying to strangle Gilli Cohen of Israel, defeated her and reached the u52kg bronze medal contest but lost the match to finish fifth overall

If Teddy Riner of France is the sure thing in the men’s tournament, his counterpart in the women’s category would be Kosovo’s defending champion, Majlinda Kelmendi, but as it happens she had suffered an injury and could not participate.

This left the field wide open for her two main rivals, Andreea Chitu of Romania and Erika Miranda of Brazil to go for gold.

But Japan’s double World Champion Misato Nakamura was making a comeback of sorts and she was not someone to be discounted.

Pool A: Andreea Chitu (ROU)

The top seed here was Chitu, who was also the top favorite in the absence of Kelmendi. She handily threw her first opponent, Tunisia’s Hela Ayari, with an impressive sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for ippon. Her next match, against Kelmendi’s compatriot, Distria Krasniqi, was a difficult one however, and Chitu had to rely on penalties for that win. Although she’s a good thrower, Chitu used groundwork to win her next match, pinning Italy’s Odette Giuffrida for ippon.

Pool B: Gulbadam Babamuratova (TKM)

Top seed Mareen Kraeh of Germany was upset by little-known Gulbadam Babamuratova of Turkmenistan, who had earlier beaten Australia’s Hannah Trotter with an impressive standing ippon-seoi-nage. Babamuratova then threw Kraeh with a stunning koshiguruma for ippon. Next up was Belgium’s Ilse Heylen whom she threw with a drop morote-seoi-nage for waza-ari. This pitted Babamuratova up against Mongolia’s Tsolmon Adiyasambuu whom she also threw for ippon.

Pool C: Misato Nakamura (JPN)

Russia’s Natalia Kuziutina may have been the top seed but the real favorite was Nakamura. She defeated her first opponent, Finland’s Jaana Sundberg, with an ouchi-gari for waza-ari and then proceeded to pin her for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Next up was Portugal’s Joana Ramos whom she also defeated by osaekomi for ippon. Nakamura got her third ippon of the day by throwing Ukraine’s Tetiana Levytska with tai-otoshi for waza-ari and then pinned her for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Her hardest match was against Kuziutina who took her to time but Nakamura managed to win in Golden Score with a kosoto-gari for yuko.

Pool D: Erika Miranda (BRA)

Top seed Miranda defeated her first opponent, Armenia’s Zhanna Stankevich with a kosoto-gari counter and a soto-makikomi for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Then, she defeated Kazakhstan’s Lenariya Mingazova with a strangle for ippon. She used a similar strangle to win her next match, against Darya Skrypnik of Belarus.

21 Darya Skrypnik of Belarus leaps over Natalia Kuziutina of Russia in an attempt to strangle the Russian with her right lapel grip but was unsuccessful eventually winning the u52kg match by a shido

Semi-Finals

Babamuratova had fought impressively all day but she was no match against Chitu, who threw her at the edge of the mat for waza-ari.

The Nakamura-Miranda match was a closely-fought one with the Japanese being down on penalties when literally in the last second of the match, she scored waza-ari with a perfectly-timed kosoto-gari.

Bronze

Like many bouts in this tournament, the bronze medal match between Miranda and Giuffrida was a tactical one and the Brazilian proved to be the better tactician, winning by penalties. As if to make up for the less exciting Miranda-Giuffrida match, Skrypnik blasted past Babamuratova for ippon with a beautiful uchimata-kouchi-gari combination that had the crowd roaring its approval.

Erika Miranda of Brazil (blue) attempts to strangle Misato Nakamura of Japan but eventually lost the contest by a wazari (7 points) enabling Nakamura to reach the final and the u52kg gold medal

Darya Skrypnik of Belarus (white) sweeps the feet from under Gulbadam Babamuratova of Turkmenistan for an ippon (10 points) to win the u52kg bronze medal

Enrika Miranda of Brazil (blue) avoids an attack by Odette Giuffrida of Italy to win the u52kg bronze medal by a penalty to Giuffrida

Gulbadam Babamuratova of Turkmenistan (blue) lays on the mat out of frustration after being thrown for ippon

by Darya Skrypnik of Belarus (white) to win the u52kg bronze medal

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Gold

Misato Nakamura of Japan (blue) knocks Andreea Chitu of Romania to the mat during the u52kg final that she won to secure the first Japanese gold medal

Alas, the final match was also a tactical one with the very experienced Nakamura outwitting Chitu, who is normally a fine tactician too. But Nakamura wasn’t a double World Champion for nothing. And with this latest win, she’s now a triple world champion.

Andreea Chitu of Romania (white) tries to recover from a passivity penalty by attacking Misato Nakamura of Japan in the final seconds of u52kg final that she lost

Andreea Chitu of Romania (white) progressed to the u52kg final to win the silver medal

Under 52kg medallists L-R: Silver; Andreea Chitu (ROU), Gold; Misato Nakamura (JPN), Bronzes; Erika Miranda (BRA) and Darya Skrypnik (BLR)

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Women’s -52 kg

Under 52kg gold medallist, Misato Nakamura of Japan stands respectfully during the Japanese national anthem

Under 52kg bronze medallist, Darya Skrypnik (27) from Belarus

Under 52kg silver medallist, Andreea Chitu of Romania

Under 52kg bronze medallist, Erika Miranda of Brazil

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Women’s -52 kg Statistics Consecutive medallists Misato Nakamura won her third world title in her fourth final. She won in 2009, 2011 and 2015. In 2010 she finished with silver.

At Olympic level Nakamura won bronze in 2008, lost her first round in 2012 and seems to be the chosen one for Rio 2016.

The average age of all historic Olympic champions since 1988 in the U52kg category is 27, Misato Nakamura is now 26.

The last two Olympic champions Xian (CHN) and An (DPR) were 32 though.

Besides the unmatched streak of medals by Teddy Riner at the World Championships, also Erika Miranda of Brazil maintained her streak in Astana, now three medals in a row, although she was one second away from a final spot again.

Brazillian women’s judo coach, Rosicléia Campos, is watched by the TV audience as she encourages Erika Miranda to victory

Rosicléia Campos is one of the most energetic coaches in the world

Japanese fans show their support for Misato Nakamura during the u52kg final that she won to secure the first Japanese gold medal

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World Championships veteran and 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Ilse Heylen wanted to take a world medal badly. However she couldn’t succeed to finish in the top eight for the first time in all World Championships since 2005. At three Olympic Games so far she has finished top 8 consequently. Darya Skrypnik of Belarus took a very unexpected medal for her country. She is the first woman to medal for Belarus. Shundzikau won silver in 2009, Rybak won silver in 2007 and bronze in 2005. Kazusionok, Kukharenka, Makarau and coach Bagirov (twice) won World bronze.

World Champions U52kg

Li Ying of China tastes her u52kg gold medal during the 2005 Cairo Worlds

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Day 2: Men’s -66 kg After a fascinating -60kg competition, judo fans were looking forward to an even more exciting -66kg competition. The category was full of big throwers like Ukraine’s Georgii Zantaraia, Azerbaijan’s Nijat Shikhalizada, Russia’s Kamal-Khan Magomedov and Mikhail Pulyaev, Japan’s Masashi Ebinuma, Brazil’s Charles Chibana, Uzbekistan’s Rishod Sobirov and Mongolia’s Tumurkhuleg Davaadorj and Khashbaatar Tsagaanbaatar. As it turned out, all of the top favourites lost, with only Pulyaev making it to the semi-finals.

Pool A: Golan Pollack (ISR)

The top favourite here was without doubt Ukraine’s Zantaraia, who seems capable of doing the most unusual throws of any grip. But he crashed out in his first fight, against Israel’s Golan Pollack, who had earlier defeated Spain’s David Ramirez Ramos with a hand technique for waza-ari. In the Pollack-Zantaraia fight, the Ukraine fighter came in with one of his unorthodox pick-ups but was countered by the Israeli for a waza-ari. This was a huge upset. Next, Pollack fought France’s Loic Korval. The Israeli was down by a yuko when in the dying moments, Korval was given his fourth shido and thus, hansoku-make. That brought Pollack up against Italy’s Elio Verde, whom he narrowly defeated with osoto-gari that scored yuko.

Pool B: An Baul (KOR)

This was without doubt the hardest pool with Magomedov, Khashbaataar, Ebinuma, Chibana and Sobirov all battling for the top spot. Amazingly, every single one of the favourites got knocked in the preliminaries and in the end, it was the relatively unknown An Baul of South Korea who emerged victorious. He won his first bout, against Cuba’s Carlos Tondique with two drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon.

Then, he defeated top-ranked Dzmitry Shershan of Belarus with a drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for yuko. After that, he faced his toughest opponent, Magomedov, whom he defeated expertly with a mix of strategy and opportunism. The South Korean attacked relentlessly, denying the Russian any opportunity to attack. When the frustrated Magomedov cornered him at the edge of the mat, he slipped underneath with a drop ippon-seoi-nage that scored waza-ari. That brought him up against Sobirov who had seen a return to form, having soundly defeated Ebinuma for ippon earlier with a perfect uchimata counter. But An was on a roll, and managed to beat Sobirov with reverse seoi-nage for waza-ari.

Pool C: Mikhail Pulyaev (RUS)

If there was a player who could stop Russian powerhouse Pulyaev it would be Japan’s Kengo Takaichi but he unexpectedly lost in his first match to Spain’s Sugoi Uriarte. This made it all that much easier for Pulyaev, who soundly defeated France’s David Larose in his first fight, with moroteseoi-nage for ippon. He then defeated Peru’s Jesus Gavida Mendoza with an armlock for ippon. After that, he beat Germany’s Sebastian Seidl with a pin for ippon.

Pool D: Yeldos Zhumakanov (KAZ

The top player of note here was Mongolia’s Davaadorj, who made it all the way to the quarter-final but was stopped by a relative unknown, Yeldos Zhumakanov of Kazakhstan. The Kazakh’s first fight was against Andreas Kassas of Cyprus, whom he beat with drop sode-tsuri-komigoshi and drop morote-seoi-nage for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Then, he beat Tunisia’s Houssem Khalfaoui with drop ippon-seoi-nage for ippon.

His first serious challenge was Britain’s Colin Oates, but he beat him rather quickly with a cross-grip drop morote-seoi-nage for ippon. That brought him up against Davaadorj, whom he beat in style with two counters, one against kosoto-gake and one against uchimata for waza-ariawasatte-ippon.

Double World champion, Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan (blue) counters triple world champion, Masashi Ebinuma of Japan with an uchimata sukashi (sidestep) for an ippon in their u66kg clash

27 Golan Pollack of Israel (blue) shows his excitement on realising that he has defeated Tumurkhuleg Davaadorj of Mongolia to win the u66kg bronze medal

Semi-Final

An is both a thrower and a tactician and in his semi-final bout against Pollack, he chose to be the latter, beating Pollack in all aspects of the contest and never gave the Israeli a chance to settle for an attack. In the end, he won with three shido penalties.The more experienced Pulyaev soundly defeated newbie Zhumakanov by first throwing him with a cross-grip seoi-nage for waza-ari and then pinning him for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. He had won all his matches by ippon.

Bronze

Sobirov, a double world champion at -60kg who has been having some difficulty adjusting to his new weight class, showed how good he can be by throwing Zhumakanov with a classic osoto-kosoto combination that scored waza-ari.

Davaadorj played the perfect tactical match, and was ahead on penalties, until the dying moments when he became complacent and got thrown with a lastsecond ouchi-gari by Pollack earned the Israeli the other bronze medal.

Mikhail Pulyaev of Russia (white) held Yeldos Zhumakanov of Kazakhstan for an ippon to reach the u66kg final where he won the silver medal

Former double World champion, Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan, reaps the legs of his opponent, Yeldos Zhumakanov of Kazakhstan, from under him to win the u66kg bronze medal

Golan Pollack of Israel shows his excitement after winning the u66kg bronze medal

Former double World champion, Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan, won the u66kg bronze medal

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An Baul of Korea is overcome with emotion after his opponent, Mikhail Pulyaev of Russia was disqualified in the u66kg final

Gold

The final was a very tactical match with Pulyaev proving the superior tactician for most of the match and was ahead on penalties. But then, towards the end of the match, perhaps due to fatigue or complacency, he allowed An to catch up. This caused the match to go into Golden Score. There, An proved to be the fitter of the two and immediately launched three consecutive attacks on Pulyaev, who had no answer.

The result was a shido for the Russian. And with that South Korea got its first gold medal of the tournament.

An Baul of South Korea (white) attacks 2014 World silver medallist, Mikhail Pulyaev of Russia during the u66kg final that he eventually won by ippon (10 points) in extra time

Under 66kg medallists L-R: Silver; Mikhail Pulyaev (RUS), Gold; An Baul (KOR), Bronzes; Rishod Sobirov (UZB) and Golan Pollack (ISR)

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Mens -66 kg Medallists

Under 66kg gold medallist, An Baul of South Korea, who is just 21, excitedly signals his team mates after receiving his gold medal

Under 66kg bronze medallist, Golan Pollack of Israel proudly shows his bronze medal

For the second year running Mikhail Pulyaev of Russia reached the u66kg final but could not manage to collect the gold medal

Former World champion and now under 66kg bronze medallist, Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan

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Men’s -66 kg Statistics The youngest judoka won the final block U66kg. 21-year old An Baul differs is seven years younger than runner-up Mikhail Pulyaev.

An is the fourth medallist of his country in this category U66kg. Hyung-Ju Kim won bronze in 2001, Jeong-Hwan An bronze in 2009 and Jun-Ho Cho took bronze in 2011.

Mikhail Pulyaev was one of the few judoka to hold his position as runner-up, the same situation for Ryu Shichinohe and Andreea Chitu. Pavia, Tashiro and Miranda prolonged their bronze medals. There’s only one king called Teddy Riner.

Golan Pollack is the third male Israeli to take a World medal. Ariel Zeevi won silver in 2001 and Oren Smadja won silver in 1995.

Georgii Zantaraia who lost his first match, lost his impressive streak of taking 5 World Championships medals in a row.

Georgii Zantaraia of Ukraine, 28, won the 2009 Rotterdam gold medal but hasn’t won the world title since then.

Double medallists

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The Kazakhstan spectators erupt with joy after Yeldos Zhumakanov reaches the u66kg semi-final

The beautiful Kazakhstan models carried the medals for the VIPs to be presented to each of the medallists during the day 2 medal ceremonies

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Day 3: Women’s -57 kg

Kaori Matsumoto of Japan (white) defeated Chen-Ling Lien of Chinese Taipei by an ippon (10 points) on her way to the u57kg gold medal

For many years, the feared player in this category was Japan’s World and Olympic Champion Kaori Matsumoto. However, since winning her Olympic title in London, she had not competed as much and was defeated a few times, including in the preliminary rounds of the 2014 Chelyabinsk World Championships as well as in two IJF circuit events just prior to Astana.

Would her long-time rivals Corina Caprioriu of Romania or Automne Pavia of France or Telma Monteiro of Portugal be able to emerge victor? Or will Matsumoto win a second world title?

Pool A: Corina Caprioriu (ROU)

Romania’s Olympic silver medallist Caprioriu won her first match against Spain’s Concepcion Bellorin with a very slow and delayed tomoe-nage. Since the Spanish player landed flat on her back, ippon was given. Next, she defeated Luxembourg’s Manon Durbach with ouchi-gari for ippon. She very nearly lost her match against Hungary’s former junior World champion, Hedvig Karakas though.

Caprioriu was down by a yuko with time slipping away when she suddenly pulled off a koshi-guruma for waza-ari in the dying seconds.

Pool B: Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (CAN)

Canada’s Beauchemin-Pinard did well to defeat her first opponent, France’s Helene Receveaux by countering her for waza-ari and then strangling her for ippon. She followed that up with an even more stunning victory against Rafaela Silva (BRA) by strangling her to advance. She proved to be something of a shime-waza specialist when she won her third match, against Germany’s Viola Waechter, with yet another strangle for ippon. Standing in her way to the top position was USA’s Marti Malloy who is something of a newaza specialist herself. She proved to be a difficult opponent and the match went into Golden Score, where Beauchemin-Pinard managed to counter Malloy’s kosoto-gari for a waza-ari.

Pool C: Automne Pavia (FRA)

There were two favorites in this pool, Portugal’s four times World silver medallist, Telma Monteiro and Pavia. In the end, it was the French player who prevailed. Pavia easily defeated her first opponent, Hana Carmichael of the USA, throwing her with her favorite osoto-gari for yuko and then an osoto-makikomi for ippon. Although she is not a newaza specialist, Pavia won her second match, against Great Britain’s Nekoda Smythe-Davis with a hold down for ippon. That brought her up against Monteiro whom she defeated with an osoto-gari counter against an ippon-seoi-nage attempt. It only scored yuko but that was enough for her to win the match.

Pool D: Kaori Matsumoto (JPN)

Matsumoto was not highly ranked coming into Astana because she had not competed much in the IJF circuit. But there was no question she was the top favorite here. A newaza specialist, she handily beat her first opponent, North Korea’s Choe Hyon A with an unusual roll into osaekomi for ippon. She then used her favorite ashiwaza, kosoto-gari, to throw her second opponent, Taiwan’s Lien Chen-Ling for ippon. In her next fight, against Russia’s Irina Zabludina, she used a left ippon-seoi-nage, which is not a common technique for her but it scored waza-ari. She followed that up with kosoto-gari for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Her toughest fight would be with Mongolia’s Sumiya Dorjsuren but she was also able to throw her, with kouchi-gake for yuko.

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Semi-Finals

Beauchemine-Pinard had had a great tournament so far but the very experienced Caprioriu proved too strong for her and countered the Canadian’s side takedown for waza-ari. The match between old rivals Matsumoto and Pavia was a very tactical one and was won by the Japanese through a single shido. She was through the final, which would be a rematch of her 2012 Olympic final against Caprioriu.

Bronze

Pavia has always been a tactical player, much more so than Malloy. Still the American managed to survive until the end of regular time. In Golden Score however, she crumbled and got a shido. The Dorjsuren-Beauchemin-Pinard fight was another tactical match that went into Golden Score. Again, it was the more experienced player, Dorjsuren, who prevailed, causing her opponent to incur a shido.

Automne Pavia of France (blue) narrowly defeated Marti Malloy of the USA by 1 penalty to 2 to win the u57kg bronze medal

Miryam Roper of Germany (white) attacks Irina Zabludina of Russia but lost the u57kg contest by a yuko

Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard of Canada (blue) armlocked Helene Receveaux of France into submission in her opening u57kg contest

34 Kaori Matsumoto of Japan (blue), attacks Corina Caprioriu of Romania during the u57kg final that she won by a wazari

Gold

Matsumoto proved she was still on top form, defeating Caprioriu yet again, with her trademark sticky-foot kosoto-gari for waza-ari. After that score, she played a largely tactical match until the end of match time.

Matsumoto was World Champion for a second time.

Corina Caprioriu of Romania (white) attacks Kaori Matsumoto of Japan but lost the u57kg final to her by a wazari

Olympic and World champion, Kaori Matsumoto of Japan, defeated Corina Caprioriu of Romania with this throw for a wazari to collect her second u57kg World title

Under 57kg medallists L-R: Silver; Corina Caprioriu (Romania), Gold; Kaori Matsumoto (Japan), Bronzes; Automne Pavia (France) and Sumiya Dorjsuren (Mongolia)

Olympic and World champion, Kaori Matsumoto of Japan, happily leaves the mat after defeating Corina Caprioriu of Romania by a wazari to collect her second u57kg World title

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Women’s -57 kg

Under 57kg gold medallist, Kaori Matsumoto of Japan enjoying the moment before the Japanese national anthem

Under 57kg bronze medallist, Sumiya Dorjsuren of Mongolia standing during the Japanese national anthem

Under 57kg silver medallist, Corina Caprioriu of Romania standing during the Japanese national anthem

Under 57kg bronze medallist, Automne Pavia of France standing during the Japanese national anthem

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Women’s -57 kg Statistics

Olympic champion, Kaori Matsumoto of Japan, here looking focused, defeated Chen-Ling Lien of Chinese Taipei by an ippon (10 points) on her way to the u57kg gold medal

Kaori Matsumoto won her second world title in Astana in this pre Olympic year. Of the 14 World Championships in the pre Olympic year 2011 three became Olympic champion in 2012 Tagir Khalbulaev (RUS), Teddy Riner (FRA) and Lucie Decosse (FRA). Nonetheless 11 out of the 14 won an Olympic medal. In 2007 Irakli Tsirekidze (GEO) and Wen Tong (CHN) were the only ones to follow up their world titles with Olympic gold.

Of all world champions U57kg since the weight change in 1998 one was from Europe (2009), three from Pan America and seven world titles were for Asian nations.

The podium in Astana differed only one place with the 2012 Olympic podium in London. Marti Malloy who finished fifth was replaced by Sumiya Dorjsuren (MGL).

Dorjsuren won the fourth ever medal for her country Mongolia in the women’s division.

Automne Pavia won her second World Championships bronze medal for France U57kg. For the French only one athlete won a medal in this category, but Morgane Ribout won the gold medal. In the past U56kg Cathy Arnaud won two world titles for France in this category.

In this traditionally “European” weight class Pan America has won 6 medals since 1998, Asia 12 and Europe 26, but only one gold medal by Ribout in 2009. Asia has won 7 gold medals out of 12.

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World Champions U57kg

Under 57kg medallists L-R: Silver; Corina Caprioriu (Romania), Gold; Kaori Matsumoto (Japan), Bronzes; Automne Pavia (France) and Sumiya Dorjsuren (Mongolia)

Sun Hui Kye celebrates winning her third World title at Cairo in 2005

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Day 3: Men’s -73 kg This category promised a lot of fireworks as two of Japan’s top contenders were competing: Shohei Ono and Riki Nakaya. Ever since he won gold at the 2013 Rio World Championships, the judo world has been enthralled with Ono’s throwing capabilities.

However, he has experienced some setbacks in recent years. Ono has missed many IJF circuit competitions in 2014 due to some disciplinary issues that resulted in a competition ban for several months. This, plus the fact that he unexpectedly got eliminated early in the 2014 Chelyabinsk World Championships caused his rankings to plummet. That cleared the way for his teammate and rival Nakaya to dominate and indeed it was Nakaya who won the gold in Chelyabinsk. The prospect of an all-Japan final between these two top players was an exciting one for the crowd.

Pool A: Shohei Ono (JPN)

Israel’s Sagi Muki is the top-ranked player in this pool but Ono was the top favorite. Nevertheless, Ono was the player to watch. He dismissed his first opponent, China’s Sai Yinjirigala with a fast uchimata and then unexpectedly, with a sode-tsuri-komi-goshi which scored waza-ari each for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Next, he took out Portugal’s Jorge Fernandes (POR) with a welltimed kouchi-gari for yuko followed by a blistering osoto-gari for ippon. Against Vadzim Shoka of Belarus, Ono decided to use his two favorite techniques, osoto-gari and uchimata, which scoring waza-ari each for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. This brought him up against Sagi, who is quite a thrower himself. But he was no match for Ono, who threw him multiple times. First, with uchimata for yuko, then koshi-guruma for yuko, then uchimata for waza-ari, and finally a surprise drop morote-seoi-nage for yuko.

Pool B: An Changrim (KOR)

In Pool B, South Korea’s An Changrim was doing to his opponents what Ono was doing to his in Pool A. An threw Germany’s Igor Wandtke with a slick reverse seoi-nage for ippon. Then, he used a drop morote-seoi-nage against Dex Elmont of the Netherlands for waza-ari. Then, it was back to reverse seoi-nage, against Montenegro’s Nikola Gusic, for yet another ippon. The very strong Mongolian Nyam-Ochir Sainjargal gave him a tough fight but also succumbed to his throws: drop sode-tsurik-komi goshi for waza-ari and then drop morote-seoi-nage for ippon.

Pool C: Hong Kuk Hyon (PRK)

Georgia’s Nugzari Tatalashvili is the top ranking player but North Korea’s Hong Kuk Hyon was the one to look out for. He was the silver medalist at the previous World Championships but he had not competed much in the IJF world circuit, so his ranking was not high. Hong easily threw his first opponent, Hong Kong’s Cheung Chi Yip with a hip throw for ippon but he had a tough time against Brazil’s Marcelo Contini whom he defeated through penalties. Jaromir Jezek of the Czech Republic gave him a shock by throwing him with ura-nage for yuko. Hong responded with a drop morote-seoi-nage for yuko to even things up. Then, he pushed ahead with a koshi-guruma for waza-ari. Against Mongolia’s Odbayar Ganbaatar, Hong once against used seoi-nage to score waza-ari and held on to that lead for the rest of the match.

Pool D: Riki Nakaya (JPN)

Japan’s Riki Nakaya, as the defending World Champion, opened up the accounts by throwing Australia’s Jake Bensted with a reverse seoi-nage for waza-ari. A pin later on gave him waza-ariawasatte-ippon. Against Spain’s Javier Ramirez, Nakaya used a hand technique to take him down and proceeded to pin him for ippon. In his match against Uzbekistan’s Sharofiddin Boltaboev, Nakaya delighted the audience with a stunning combination: a one-handed uchimata followed by a tomoe-nage for ippon. Against the awkward Hungarian Miklos Ungvari, Nakaya relied on groundwork to pin him for ippon.

39 Shohei Ono of Japan (white) defeated Jorge Fernandes of Portugal with this throw for an ippon as he progressed to the final and his second World gold medal

Semi-Finals

The battle between Ono and An was one worthy of the final. Ono struck first with his favorite uchimata for waza-ari. An got back the waza-ari by countering Ono’s osoto-gari attempt. With time ticking away and a shido down, An adopted a high grip on Ono, who took advantage of the situation to throw him with an ura-nage for a thundering ippon. Not to be outdone, Nakaya threw Hong with a very unorthodox, low osoto-gari that scored ippon. The crowd roared its approval.

Bronze

Hong came out fighting hard against Sainjargal but the Mongolian surprised him with a sode-tsuri-komi-goshi that had him flying through the air. It was enough to win him the match. Sainjargal’s teammate, Ganbaatar was not as experienced in tactical fighting and lost out to the very tactically-aware An on penalties.

An Changrim of South Korea (blue) defeated Odbayar Ganbaatar of Mongolia, here attacking without a score, by just 2 penalties to the Mongolian’s 3 penalties to win the u73kg bronze medal

European champion, Sagi Muki of Israel (white) attacks Nyam-Ochir Sainjargal of Mongolia in the u73kg repercharge but eventually lost by a yuko

40 Shohei Ono of Japan (white), here attacking, defeated his team mate, Riki Nakaya, by a wazari (7 points) to win his second World u73kg gold medal

Shohei Ono of Japan (white) defeated Vadzim Shoka of Belarus by an ippon as he progressed to the final and his second World gold medal

Gold

The final bout, between Ono and Nakaya, was something of a grudge match. They are fierce rivals who regularly jostle for top position in Japan.

In their final, it was Ono who shined as he launched Nakaya with an osoto-kosoto combination that floored his rival. As Nakaya did not fall flat on his back, a waza-ari was given but it was too difficult for him to get that score back. Ono was World Champion for the second time.

Under 73kg medallists L-R: Silver; Riki Nakaya (Japan), Gold; Shohei Ono (Japan), Bronzes; Chang-Rim An (South Korea) and Nyam-Ochir Sainjargal (Mongolia)

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Men’s -73 kg Medallists

Under 73kg gold medallist, Shohei Ono of Japan

Under 73kg bronze medallist, Nyam-Ochir Sainjargal of Mongolia

Under 73kg silver medallist, Riki Nakaya of Japan

Under 73kg bronze medallist, An Changrim of South Korea

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Men’s -73 kg Statistics An all Japanese final of a World Championships had never previously happened in the category U73kg. Shohei Ono and Riki Nakaya had the premier at a day where Japan won both World titles. Matsumoto won U57kg.

The last time that there was an all Japan final was in 2011 when Misato Nakamura and Yuka Nishida battled for the world title U52kg in Paris. The day before Haruna Asami and Tomoko Fukumi were in the U48kg final. Never two Japanese men were in the world final.

The Asian judoka are back. It never occurred that the top 6 of the World Championships was solely Asian U73kg, not even U71kg. Since men’s judo was divided into 7 weight categories in 1977, always a European or Pan American judoka was among the best six of the world.

In 2005 the last European won the World title, Akos Braun of Hungary. At that World Championship the top six athlete were all from Europe. In a decade time, the category U73kg has returned to the east. Two Korean and five Japanese world titles followed.

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Riki Nakaya of Japan is interviewed by Japanese Television

World Champions U73kg

IJF Hall of Fame inductee and Olympic and World champion, Haruki Uemura of Japan, briefly stands in front of u73kg gold medallist, Shohei Ono of Japan and the other medallists before departing from the medal ceremony

Under 73kg medallists L-R: Silver; Riki Nakaya (Japan), Gold; Shohei Ono (Japan), Bronzes; An Changrim (South Korea) and Nyam-Ochir Sainjargal (Mongolia)

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Day 4: Womens -63 kg The two top players in this category were 2014 champion, Clarisse Agbegnenou of France and 2013 champion, Yarden Gerbi of Israel. They had fought in the finals of the 2013 Rio World Championships and the 2014 Chelyabinsk World Championships. Would they meet up again, for a third time, in the finals in Astana?

Pool A: Tina Trstenjak (SLO)

Tina Trstenjak of Slovenia had a slow start, beating Russia’s Pari Surakatova with only a yuko from kosoto-gari, but got better as the day wore on. She won her next match, against Italy’s Edwige Gwend more decisively with a hold down for ippon. Then, she performed superbly against Mongolia’s Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren, throwing her with two perfectly timed counters: evading the Mongolian’s kosoto-gari for waza-ari and then an uchimata sukashi for ippon.

Pool B: Juul Franssen (NED)

Juul Franssen of the Netherlands is not so well-known but she defeated all comers in this pool, first beating Turkmenistan’s Gulhar Hayytbaeva with a tai-otoshi for yuko. She was down by three shidos in her match against Great Britain’s Alice Schlesinger, when in the final moments of their contest, Franssen was able to catch the British player with a sharp ouchi-gari for yuko to win the match. She scraped by with a counter against kouchi-gari for yuko in her match against Morroco’s Rizlen Zouak.

Against Croatia’s Marijana Miskovic it was yet another yuko win, with her favoured technique, tai-otoshi.

Although her fights were all close, Franssen had made it to the semi-finals.

Pool C: Clarisse Agbegnenou (FRA)

Agbegnenou is a big thrower and although she was already ahead by three shidos in her match against Austria’s Hilde Drexler, she never stopped trying to throw and in the end, caught her opponent with an ouchi-gari for waza-ari. Perhaps not content with her performance in the last bout, Agbegnenou completely overwelmed her next opponent, South Korea’s Jiyun Bak with a soto-makikomi for ippon.

She threw Japan’s Miku Tashiro with osoto-gari for waza-ari and immediately followed up with a pin for yuko before the Japanese player escaped. But it was enough for Agbegnenou to get through to the semi-finals.

Pool D: Yarden Gerbi (ISR)

Gerbi is one of the biggest throwers in her category but she looked a bit lethargic in her first bout, against Hannah Martin of the USA, and just scraped by with a counter against uchimata for yuko. She won her next match, against Portugal’s Ana Cachola, with another yuko from a half-hearted uchimata.

Against Anicka Van Emden of the Netherlands, she couldn’t score at all and had to rely on penalties for the win. Although she was through to the semi-finals, her’s was not an impressive performance.

Miku Tashiro of Japan (white) throws Anicka Van Emden of the Netherlands for a wazari to reach the u63kg bronze medal contest which she won

Miku Tashiro of Japan won the u63kg bronze medal

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Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren of Mongolia (white) defeated 2013 World champion, Yarden Gerbi of Israel, to win the u63kg bronze medal

Clarisse Agbegnenou of France (white) defeated Yarden Gerbi of Israel with this inner leg throw for an ippon to reach the u63kg final.

Semi-Finals

In this year’s tournament, the referees had decided to clamp down hard on waki-gatame and when Franssen attacked Trstenjak with a badly executed sode-tsurikomi-goshi – which turned into a kind of waki-gatame – and she was given hansoku-make. The other semi-final bout, between Agbegnenou and Gerbi was a tough one.

Both players knew each other well and the match went into Golden Score. Gerbi threw caution to the wind and attempted an ura-nage. Gerbi hooked in with ouchi-gari and scored an ippon.

Bronze

In the first bronze medal match, Tsedevsuren threw Gerbi with a risky kosoto-gari/ura-nage hybrid for waza-ari. Gerbi, who had been looking sluggish all day, did not have what it took to get the score back. It was bronze for Mongolia. Because Franssen had gotten a hansoku-make earlier, she was not allowed to contest the bronze medal fight, so Japan’s Tashiro won a bronze medal by default.

Yarden Gerbi of Israel looks dejected after losing the u63kg semi-final

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Gold

In the gold medal bout between Trstenjak and Agbegnenou, it was obvious that Trstenjak was the hungrier of the two.

She opened up the accounts with a rolling drop seoi-nage for waza-ari and then fought tactically thereafter, always putting in an attack before Agbegnenou could settle in for a throw. Then when the French player rushed forward in a moment of desperation, Trstenjak dropped underneath her to execute yet another drop ippon-seoi-nage, this time for yuko. There was nothing Agbegnenou could do to get back the score. Slovenia had won its first ever gold medal at the World Championships.

Tina Trstenjak of Slovenia (white), here throwing for a wazari (7 points) defeated former World champion, Clarisse Agbegnenou of France to win the u63kg gold medal

Under 63kg medallists L-R: Silver; Clarisse Agbegnenou (France), Gold; Tina Trstenjak (Slovenia), Bronzes; Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren (Mongolia) and Miku Tashiro (Japan)

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Womens -63 kg Medallists

Under 63kg gold medallist, Tina Trstenjak of Slovenia

Under 63kg bronze medallist, Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren of Mongolia

Under 63kg silver medallist, Clarisse Agbegnenou of France

Under 63kg bronze medallist, Miku Tashiro of Japan

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Womens -63 kg Statistics .

Slovenia had its best ever World Championships with one world title for Trstenjak and silver for Anamari Velensek. In 2007 Lucija Polavder won silver in the open category. Seven bronze medals were achieved, including bronze for the same ladies in 2014.

World Champions U63kg

Clarisse Agbegnenou won her third consecutive World Championships medal Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren won the first ever World medal U63kg. Five Mongolian women have won a world medal, Munkhbat won the world title in 2013 and four bronze medals from 2005-2015.

Japan have a judoka in the top 8 U63kg consequently since 2005, medals for Tanimoto, Ueno, Tanaka and Tashiro.

The Kazakhstan hosts carried the medals, the IJF Judo for the world history book, a Jigoro Kano statue and flowers to be presented to each of the medallists during the day 4 medal ceremonies

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Takanori Nagase of Japan (white) throws Durdymyrat Hojagulyyev of Turkmenistan for a wazari before immediately repeating the throw for an ippon to win their u81kg elimination contes

Day 4: Mens -81 kg Many fans look forward to this category, which is right at the middle of the weight class spectrum. The -81kg players have more power than the lighter weights and are more active and probing than their heavier colleagues.

As a result, you get to see a lot of nice, technical judo. And there were many stars in this category as well, most notably Georgia’s powerhouse, Avdantili Tchrikishvili, France’s Loic Pietri and not forgetting Japan’s rising star Takanori Nagase.

Pool A: Avtandili Tchrikishvili (GEO)

Tchrikishvili started off well, throwing Frank De Wit of the Netherlands with a hand counter for ippon, although the Dutch player did not give him an easy time. Kazakhstan’s Aziz Kalkamanuly took the fight to Tchrikishvili and in the end lost only by penalties. The Georgian did not seem to be on top form. Hungary’s Laszlo Csoknyai tried to do an ura-nage on Tchrikishvili but got countered for yuko and was then pinned for ippon. Germany’ Sven Maresch gave Tchrikishvili the hardest fight of all, bringing him to time but lost by penalties. The Georgian fighter had made it to the semi-finals but he was not looking as dominant as before.

Pool B: Takanori Nagase (JPN)

Japan’s Takanori Nagase lit up the scoreboard in his fight against Turkmenistan’s Durdymyrat Hojagulyyev, throwing him with uchimata, tai-otoshi and uchimata for yuko, waza-ari and uchimata respectively. Against Cuba’s Ivan Silva Morales, Nagase used ouchi-gari for waza-ari and then oguruma for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Nagase got some unexpected stiff resistance from Egypt’s Mohamed Abdelaal whose strong gripping made it hard for him to come in for an attack. In the end, Nagase had to rely on penalties for the win. Against South Korea’s Lee Seungsu, Nagase was back to his throwing self, launching Lee with osoto-gari for waza-ari and following that up immediately with a hold for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon.

Pool C: Antoine Valois-Fortier (CAN)

Canada’s Antoine Valois-Fortier is a superb tactician and he put those skills to good use, beating the strong Mongolian Uuganbaatar Otgonbaatar through penalties. Valois-Fortier showed he could also throw though, dispatching Hungary’s Szabolcs Krizsan with a slick side takedown for waza-ari. Against, Germany’s Alexander Wiecerzak he went back to his tactical self and won again by penalties. As if to show his versatility, Valois-Fortier used groundwork to win his next match, against Moldova’s Valeriu Duminica, armlocking him for ippon.

Pool D: Loic Pietri (FRA)

France’s 2013 World Champion Loic Pietri easily defeated his first opponent, Iran’s Saeid Mollaei with yoko-guruma for waza-ari and then sumi-gaeshi for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Pietri then used his favorite technique, the reverse seoinage, on Italy’s Antonio Ciano for a spectacular ippon. He had a surprisingly difficult time against Alexios Ntanatsidis of Greece and had to be content with a yuko win through a hand counter. Brazil’s Victor Penalber, as expected, gave him a tough fight but lost by two yukos through a hand counter and kouchi-makikomi.

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Olympic bronze medallist Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada defeated SeungSu Lee of South Korea for the u81kg bronze medal

Semi-Finals

Nagase looked to be on top form while Tchrikishvili actually looked a bit jaded. A weak osoto-gari attack by the Georgian was foiled and countered for a yuko. After that, the Japanese player fought tactically until the match ended.

The match between Pietri and Valois-Fortier was not as evenly matched as expected. When Pietri attacked with a reverse seoi-nage, ValoisFortier pulled backwards. Pietri responded with kouchi-makikomi for yuko. Later in the match, a drop seoi-nage was immediately followed up with another kouchi-makikomi and this time it was for ippon.

Former World champion, Avtandili Tchrikishvili of Georgia, seen here gripping Victor Penalber of Brazil, lost the bronze medal to the Brazilian by 2 penalties for passivity

Avtandili Tchrikishvili of Georgia lost the semi-final by a single yuko (5 points) to Takanori Nagase of Japan and was unable to secure the u81kg bronze medal

Bronze

For his bronze medal match against South Korea’s Lee, Valois-Fortier played it just right, fighting tactically throughout. With just a minute left and down a shido, Lee attacked with a desperate osoto-gari but ValoisFortier was ready for him and countered for a yuko. It was enough to win him the match. Although Penalber is a big thrower, Tchrikishvili is both a superb thrower and a masterful tactician, which would normally mean he would dominate. But in Astana, Penalber was on fire. Having attacked more, Penalber eventually won on penalties. It was not a good World Championships for Tchrikishvili.

Takanori Nagase of Japan (white) defeated Ivan Felpe Silva Morales of Cuba by an ippon as he progressed to the u81kg semi-final

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Gold

Nagase is more known for his throws than his groundwork, which could be why Pietri seemed complacent when the match went to the ground. This gave Nagase the chance to clamp on a sankaku which allowed him to hold Pietri for ippon.

The u81kg final was dominated by Takanori Nagase of Japan (white), seen here walking on to the mat for his final against Lo誰c Pietri of France who he defeated by an ippon (10 points)

The u81kg final was dominated by Takanori Nagase of Japan (white) seen here holding Lo誰c Pietri of France for an ippon (10 points) and the gold medal

Under 81kg medallists L-R: Silver; Lo誰c Pietri (France), Gold; Takanori Nagase (Japan), Bronzes; Victor Penalber (Brazil) and Antoine Valois-Fortier (Canada)

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Mens -81 kg Medallists

Under 81kg gold medallist, Takanori Nagase of Japan

Under 81kg bronze medallist, Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada

Under 81kg silver medallist, Lo誰c Pietr of France

Under 81kg bronze medallist, Victor Penalber of Brazil

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Mens -81 kg Statistics

Under 81kg medallists L-R: Silver; Lo誰c Pietri (France), Gold; Takanori Nagase (Japan), Bronzes; Victor Penalber (Brazil) and Antoine Valois-Fortier (Canada)

Japan have now crowned a world champion in every weight category after winning their first 81kg title.

In this category 78 fights were made during the day, more than in any other category. The winner Nagase had to win 6 fights.

At day 4 Takanori Nagase closed the last category with his world title U81kg. The Japanese completed the aim to take World Championships in all 14 weight categories. Takanori Nagase closed the gap of that single missing world title.

Category U60kg U66kg U73kg U81kg U90kg U100kg O100kg U48kg U52kg U57kg U63kg U70kg U78kg O78kg

Last World Champion 2013: Naohisa Takato 2014: Masashi Ebinuma 2015: Shohei Ono 2015: Takanori Nagase, the first ever 2005: Hiroshi Izumi 2015: Ryunosuke Haga 2003: Yasuyuki Muneta 2014: Ami Kondo 2015: Misato Nakamura 2015: Kaori Matsumoto 2010: Yoshie Ueno 2003: Masae Ueno 2015: Mami Umeki 2010: Mika Sugimoto

U81kg division is finally for Japan

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U81kg division is finally for Japan Takanori Nagase added another category with his world title U81kg. Obviously before the weight change in 1998 Japan did win world titles U78kg for men with legendary fighters such as Shozo Fujii in 1979, Nobutoshi Hikage in 1983 and 1985 Hirotaka Okada in 1987 and stylist Toshihiko Koga as last one in 1995.

Nagase opened the gate of a Japanese Olympic champion in this category. Makoto Takimoto was the only Japanese to claim the Olympic title in 2000 in Sydney. Hidehiko Yoshida won the Olympic title U78kg in Barcelona in 1992.

“The excited Kazakhstan audience�

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Day 5: Womens -70 kg Top favorites in this division were Kim Polling of the Netherlands, Yuri Alvear of Colombia and Gevrise Emane of France, who was making something of a comeback. Germany’s Laura Vargas Koch was a dark horse.

Pool A: Maria Bernabeu (ESP)

The obvious favorite was here was Kim Polling of the Netherlands with Israel’s Linda Bolder as her main obstacle.

Nobody expected Spain’s Maria Bernabeu to top the pool but this tournament had already seen many a champion getting toppled. Bernabeu began her campaign by pinning Bolder, a groundwork specialist, for ippon. She then threw Germany’s European bronze medallist, Szaundra Diedrich, with osoto-makikomi for ippon. Bernabeu had a harder time in her next fight, against Brazil’s Maria Portela, who took her to time. Both players had racked up three shidos when they entered into Golden Score and the fight dragged on well past two minutes before Portela got her fourth shido for ducking her head. This pitted Bernabeu against Polling, whom she threw with osoto-gari for waza-ari. It was a big upset.

Pool B: Bernadette Graf (AUT)

Austria’s Bernadette Graf had a surprisingly difficult time against Angola’s Antonia Moreira and had to rely on penalties to win. She did better against Russia’s Irina Gazieva, countering her kosoto-gari with an ouchi that scored waza-ari. Against France’s Fanny Estelle Posvite, she had a drawn out match that was decided by penalties, in her favour.

Pool C: Gevrise Emane (FRA)

The top favorite here was Colombia’s triple World Champion Yuri Alvear but also present was France’s double World Champion Gevrise Emane, who ended up topping the pool. She had a tough opening match against Sanne Van Dijke of the Netherlands, who took her into Golden Score. It was only then that Emane was able to catch her with seoi-nage for yuko. She had a more decisive match against Canada Alix Renaud-Roy, throwing her with a standing ippon-seoi-nage for waza-ari and then pinning her for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. This pitted her against Alvear, whom she threw twice – once with drop morote-seoi-nage and another time with ura-nage – for yuko each. Emane was back in form.

Pool D: Chizuru Arai (JPN)

Germany’s Laura Vargas Koch was the overwhelming favorite here but she unexpectedly lost in her first match. Instead, it was the lesser-known Chizuru Arai of Japan who would top the pool. Arai had a difficult first match, against Britain’s Sally Conway, who took her into Golden Score. Then in a flash of perfect timing, she caught Conway with a kouchi-gari for yuko just as the British player was attempting a footsweep. In her second match, she managed to strangle Georgia’s Esther Stam. And for her third match, Arai caught Israel’s Lior Wildikan with ouchi-gari for ippon.

Ester Stam of Georgia and formerly of Holland, was the only female competitor from her country. She lost to Chizuru Arai of Japan before the quarter final and was thus prevented from competing for a medal for Georgia

Gévrise Emane of France (white) defeated Chizuru Arai of Japan by a penalty (shido) to reach the final

57 Yuri Alvear of Colombia (white) defeated Bernadette Graf of Austria by a wazari to win the u70kg bronze medal

Semi-Finals

The semi-final bout between Bernabeu and Graf was a tactical one with the Spanish player winning by penalties. The Emane-Arai match was also a very tactical affair that was decided by penalties, in favor of the French player.

Bronze

In the first bronze medal match, a poorly executed uchimata by Arai allowed Posvite to counter her for ippon. For the other bronze, Alvear managed to counter Graf’s ura-nage with an ouchi-gari for waza-ari and then held onto her lead for the rest of the match. Alvear wasn’t World Champion anymore but at least she did not go home empty handed.

Fanny Estelle Posvite of France (blue), here throwing for a yuko (3 points) defeated European champion and World number one, Kim Polling of Holland to reach the u70kg bronze medal match that she won

Gévrise Emane of France (white), here throwing without a score, defeated Chizuru Arai of Japan by a penalty (shido) to reach the final and the u70kg gold medal

Fanny Estelle Posvite of France (blue), armlocks World number one, Kim Polling of Holland into submission to reach the u70kg bronze medal match that she won

Laura Vargas Koch of Germany (white) lost her first contest to Vanessa Chala of Ecuador by ippon in their u70kg contest Laura Vargas Koch of Germany (white) lost her first u70kg contest to Vanessa Chala of Ecuador by ippon

Maria Bernabeu of Spain threw Germanys Szaundra Diedrich, with osoto-makikomi for ippon.

58 Gévrise Emane of France (blue) throws Maria Bernabeu of Spain with this sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for an ippon to win her third u70kg World gold medal

Gold

Emane gave the crowd a good show by throwing Bernabeu with a stunning drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi that had the Spanish player landing flat on her back.

Under 70kg medallists L-R: Silver; Maria Bernabeu (Spain), Gold; Gévrise Emane (France), Bronzes; Fanny Posvite (France) and Yuri Alvear (Colombia)

Gévrise Emane of France (blue) defeated Maria Bernabeu of Spain for the u70kg gold medal

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Womens -70kg Medallists

Under 70kg gold medallist, Gévrise Emane of France gives the ‘thumbs-up” to her team mates

Under 70kg bronze medallist, Fanny Posvite of France

Under 70kg silver medallist, Maria Bernabeu of Spain

Under 70kg triple World champion, Yuri Alvear of Colombia, finished with a bronze medal this time

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Womens -70 kg Statistics The world title for women U70kg is back in France. Who would have thought that 33-year young Gevrise Emane would regain the title that she first won in 2007. In the final Emane (33) defeated Maria Bernabeu of Spain (27), it was the oldest final this championships with a total of 60 years experience, much older than the category U78kg where the combined age of both women was 44 years young.

Emane lost to Edith Bosch (NED) in 2005 but in 2007 she took over the world title. In 2009 she lost in the quarter-final U63kg and 2010 was even worse. In Paris Emane regained the world title U63kg and won Olympic bronze in 2012 in London. The post World Championships in Rio led to a successful bronze as well.

Oldest World Champions in judo history 1 2 3 4 5

Driulis Gonzalez CUB 2007 World Championships Rio de Janeiro 33 y 358 d Gévrise Emane FRA 2015 World Championships Astana 33 y 32 d Christine Cicot FRA 1997 World Championships Paris 33 y 29 d Beáta Maksymow POL 1999 World Championships Birmingham 32 y 72 d Ryoko Tani JPN 2007 World Championships Rio de Janeiro 32 y 10 d

Spain’s balance in finals Historically, Romania has lost all of its four finals, and it’s the same for Portugal (specifically Telma Monteiro). For Maria Bernabeu of Spain it was obviously a great result taking the silver with her outstanding judo. In the past, Spain has won two out of nine finals. Romania has lost all its four finals, same for Portugal... or as a matter of fact Telma Monteiro. For Maria Bernabeu it was obviously a great result taking the silver with outstanding judo. The last finallists for Spain dated from 2009 where Sugoi Uriarte and Oiana Blanco lost the final.

Driulis Gonzalez of Cuba is the oldest female World champion at 33 yrs when she won the 2007 Rio u63kg gold medal. She was also inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame at the Astana World Championships

Lucie Decosse of France happily wearing her 2011 Paris Worlds gold medal

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Most silver medals per nation

World Champions U70kg

Gold medallist, Gevrise Emane of France at the 2007 Rio Worlds

The women’s U70kg is dominated since 2007 by France and Colombia, in fact by just three judoka.

Emane and Decosse also won World and Olympic medals U63kg.

Yuri Alvear of Columbia won her first gold medal at the 2009 Rotterdam Worlds

62 Mami Umeki of Japan (white) attempts this armlock on Anamari Velensek of Slovenia but then won the gold medal with a hold for ippon in extra time

Day 5: Womens -78 kg This was a category full of big throwers like Kayla Harrison of the USA, Maya Aguiar of Brazil and Audrey Tcheumeo of France.

But surprises and upsets have been happening throughout this tournament and this category was no exception.

Pool A: Daria Pogorzelec (POL)

This was a category full of surprises and no defeats were as shocking as the ones that happened in this pool, which had the two top favorites in this category, Harrison of the USA and Brazil’s Aguiar, jostling for the top position. As it turned out, both got defeated by relative unknowns. Harrison lost to South Korea’s Yoon Hyunji while Aguair lost to Poland’s Daria Pogorzelec who went on to top the pool. The Polish player’s first fight was against Mongolia’s Lkhamdegd Purevjargal, whom she threw with a well-timed kosoto-gari for waza-ari. Next, she threw Ukraine’s Victoria Turks (UKR) with drop ippon-seoi-nage for ippon. Nobody expected her to defeat Agular but she did just that, throwing her not once, but twice. First, with reverse seoi-nage for yuko and then with drop ippon-seoi-nage for wazaari. This pitted her up against fellow underdog Yoon. It was a tough battle but the Polish player prevailed with an osoto-gari attack that scored yuko.

Pool B: Mami Umeki (JPN)

Little-known Mami Umeki of Japan defeated her first opponent, China’s Zhang Zehui with harai-goshi for yuko, followed with a pin for ippon. She had to rely on penalties for her win againt Guusje Steenhuis of the Netherlands. Her toughest opponent was Germany’s Luise Malzahn whom she also beat through penalties.

Pool C: Audrey Tcheumeo (FRA)

Tcheumeo had a tough first match, against Cuba’s Yalennis Castillo and had to rely on penalties to win. Against Hungary’s Abigel Joo she did a lot better, throwing her with tai-otoshi for ippon. She was also in good form in her fight against Marhinde Verkerk of the Netherlands, whom she countered with a hand-technique for yuko, then threw with tai-otoshi for waza-ari.

Pool D: Anamari Velensek (SLO)

Slovenia’s Anamari Velensek threw her first opponent, Russia’s Anastasiya Dmitrieva with soto makikomi for yuko and then pinned her for ippon. She also used a pin to defeat South Korea’s Yujin Park. Great Britain’s Gemma Gibbons proved to be a harder opponent but she eventually succumbed to Velensek’s soto-makikomi which scored yuko.

Former World champion, Audrey Tcheumeo of France (white) defeated Abigel Joo of Hungary by an ippon in their u78kg contest

Daria Pogorzelec of Poland defeated defending World champion, Mayra Aguiar of Brazil by a wazari on her way to the u78kg semi-final but finished fifth

Top seeded Olympic and World champion, Kyla Harrison of the USA (white), defeated Miria Nolberto Labriel of Guatemala but then lost her second contest to be eliminated from the u78kg final session

63 Luise Malzahn of Germany (white) defeated former World champion, Audrey Tcheumeo of France by an ippon to win the u78kg bronze medal

Semi-Finals

Pogorzelec had done extremely well to get to this point but she could not get past Japan’s surprise semi-finalist Umeki who threw her with osoto-gari for waza-ari and then immediately pinned her for wazaari-awasatte-ippon.Velensek’s match against Tcheumeo was an extremely tactical one with the Slovenian winning through penalties.

Bronze

Marhinde Verkerk of the Netherlands (white) won the u78kg repercharge after Gemma Gibbons of Great Britain was disqualified for passivity

Tcheumeo had fought well for most of the day but a half-hearted osoto-gari against Malzahn resulted in a counter for waza-ari. The German player then clamped on a pin for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon.

The other bronze medal match, between Verkerk and Pogorzelec, was a tactical one and in the end, the more experienced Dutch player won out through penalties.

Olympic silver medallist, Gemma Gibbons of Great Britain (blue) throws Kyong Sol of North Korea for an ippon in their u78kg

Luise Malzahn of Germany (white) defeated former World champion, Audrey Tcheumeo of France by an ippon to win the u78kg bronze medal

Audrey Tcheumeo of France (white) defeated Marhinde Verkerk of Holland to reach the u78kg semi-final. However, Tcheumeo finished fifth while Verkerk won the bronze medal

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Gold

Velensek fought Umeki well during regular time and brought the match into Golden Score. A careless drop onto the mat allowed Umeki to pin her for ippon. It was Japan’s first unexpected gold medal for the tournament.

Under 78kg medallists L-R: Silver; Anamari Velensek (SLO), Gold; Mami Umeki (JPN), Bronzes; Luise Malzahn (GER) and Marhinde Verkerk

Mami Umeki of Japan (white) defeated Anamari Velensek of Slovenia for the u78kg gold medal in extra time by an ippon from a hold

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Womens -78kg Medallists

Under 78kg gold medallist, Mami Umeki of Japan

Under 78kg bronze medallist, Marhinde Verkerk of the Netherlands

Under 78kg silver medallist, Anamari Velensek of Slovenia

Under 78kg bronze medallist, a happy Luise Malzahn of Germany

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Womens -78 kg Statistics Japanese Umeki Mami won the world title for Japan for women U78kg. An absolute sensation on a sensational day.

Umeki also became the youngest winner of the tournament with just 20 years of age.

Noriko Anno was the best heavyweight U72kg and U78kg. She won four world titles, starting in 1997 U72kg in Paris.

Maki Umeki is the second Japanese to win this category. A very world wide spread of world champions.

World Champions who didn’t survive the prelims at day 5 All former World Champions didn’t make it to the semi finals at the fifth day, except for the two French Gevrise Emane and Audrey Tcheumeo. Watch the impressive list of the sensational preliminary rounds of day 5 of the World Championships.

The category for women U78kg had a totally unexpected road to the final, without last year’s world champion Mayra Aguiar (BRA) and without 2012 Olympic Champion Kayla Harrison (USA). Look at the former World Champions who didn’t in the prelims.

2005 Guillaume Elmont (NED) 2007 Tiago Camilo (BRA) 2009 Marhinde Verkerk (NED) * 2010 Kayla Harrison (USA) 2013 Kyong Sol (PRK) 2013 Asley Gonzalez (CUB) 2010, 2011, 2014 Ilias Iliadis (GRE) 2009, 2013, 2014 Yuri Alvear (COL) 2014 Mayra Aguiar (BRA) * Only Marhinde Verkerk (NED) won a bronze medal via the repechage.

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Olympic and World champion Kayla Harrison holds up her 2012 gold medal while an awe-struck Camberley club member points at it

Norika Anno of Japan proudly holding her 2003 Osaka gold medal

Guest of honour, 1980 Olympic champion Shota Khabareli of Georgia and then Pan America Sports Director Manuel Larranaga of Mexico presented the u78kg medals

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Day 5: Mens -90 kg This category is also usually a fan favorite because it has so many big throwers including the ever popular Ilias Iliadis of Greece and Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia, as well as some rising stars Krisztian Toth of Hungary, Gwak Dong Han of South Korea and Beka Gviniashvili of Georgia.

Pool A: Kirill Denisov (RUS)

Russia’s Denisov was in a very tough pool together with former World Champions Tiago Camilo of Brazil and Guillaume Elmont of the Netherlands as well as Hungary’s World Silver Medalist Krisztian Toth. But he was in good form and would not be denied his place at the top of the pool. His match against Camilo featured a lot of heavy grip fighting and in the end, he won on penalties. He had an easier time against Chile’s Rafael Romo, taking him down with a standing armlock for yuko, then pinning him for ippon. His match against Elmont was as expected, a heavily tactical one but Denisov’s gripping was superior and Elmont got hansoku-make after accruing four shidos. This brought Denisov up against Toth. Again, it was a tactical match but Denisov is as tactical a player as you can get and again, he won on penalties

Pool B: Beka Gviniashvili (GEO)

In his opening bout, Georgia’s rising star Gviniashvili knocked down Ukraine’s Quedjau Nhabali for waza-ari and then proceeded to hold him down for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Next, he showed what a powerhouse he was, taking Poland’s Patryck Ciechomski down with a very low hip technique for waza-ari, followed by another low hip technique for yuko, before pinning him for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. In his next match, he threw Serbia’s Aleksandar Kukolj with a side takedown for yuko and then pinned him for ippon. His toughest battle would undoubtedly be against Japan’s Mashu Baker, whom he had difficulty throwing.

However, a poorly executed sumi-gaeshi by the Japanese allowed Gviniashvili to pin him for a yuko.

Pool C: Komronshokh Ustopiriyon (TJK)

At the start of the day, nobody would have expected relative unknown, Ustopiriyon, to top the pool but he was the man on form.

He beat his first opponent, Lithuania’s Karolis Bauza with drop seoi-nage for yuko. Then, he threw Mexico’s Isao Cardenas with a dynamic uchimata for ippon. After that he unexpectedly took out top favorite, Noel van ‘t End of the Netherlands with a perfectly-timed kouchi-gari against a tomoe-nage attempt, for ippon. He wasn’t able to throw his next opponent, Germany’s Aaron Hildebrand, but managed to win on penalties. He was through to the semi-finals.

Pool D: Gwak Dong Han (KOR)

In this pool, all eyes were on Georgia’s Liparteliani but it was South Korea’s Gwak Dong Han who came through in the end.

Gwak threw his first opponent Dominican Republic’s Robert Florentino twice with drop morote-seoi-nage, first for yuko and then for ippon. Next, he threw Ukraine’s Vadym Synyavsky with drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for waza-ari. He didn’t have to do another throw to get the ippon though because Synyavsky accrued up to four penalties resulting in a hansoku-make. Against Spain’s Ruiz Zajac he got one yuko through reverse seoi-nage and another, in a rare departure from a drop technique, through osoto-gari. His toughest battle, of course, was against Liparteliani. He only managed to score a yuko with an ouchi-gari counter against Liparteliani’s kosoto-gari but that was enough to win him the match.

Ilias Iliadis of Greece (white) lost his second u90kg contest joining several other high profile early exits

Aaron Hildebrand of Germany (blue) defeated Celio Dias of Portugal by a wazari with this throw in their u90kg contest

Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia (white) throws Jacob Larsen of the USA for ippon in their u90kg contest

69 Aaron Hildebrand of Germany (blue) throws Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren of Mongolia for a wazari to reach the u90kg quarter-final

Semi-Finals

The battle between the superb tactician Denisov and the powerhouse thrower Gviniashvili promised to be an exciting one. Denisov surprised Gviniashvili by showing that there was much of a thrower in him, taking the Georgian over for waza-ari twice, once with tai-otoshi and another time with uchimata. Ustopiriyon had done remarkably well getting all the way to the semi-final, but Gwak’s throwing power proved too much for him. He conceded a yuko from a very low, rolling morote-seoi-nage and was not able to get the score back. It was the South Korean who would be going to the final.

Bronze Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia (white) throws his fellow countryman Beka Gviniashvili for this wazari and then an ippon to win the u90kg bronze medal

Baker got his bronze by default as Ustopiriyon was injured and had to forfeit the match. The Japanese didn’t seem too happy about his bronze though. The second bronze medal match was an all-Georgian affair, pitting Liparteliani against Gviniashvili. The more experienced Liparteliani threw the young upstart twice, once with a hip technique for waza-ari and then with soto-makikomi for ippon. Like Baker, Liparteliani didn’t seem satisfied with his bronze medal win. When you’re aiming for gold, anything less won’t do.

Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren of Mongolia (blue) throws former Olympic champion, Ilias Iliadis of Greece for an ippon in their u90kg contest

Aaron Hildebrand of Germany (blue) defeated Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren of Mongolia to reach the u90kg quarter-final

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Gold

The South Koreans are as tactical as they are capable in throwing. After Gwak got a waza-ari against Denisov with morote-seoi-nage, he fought tactically until time ran out. It was gold for Gwak.

Dong Han Gwak of South Korea (blue) throws Kirill Denisov of Russia to win the u90kg gold medal by a wazari (7 points)

Dong Han Gwak of South Korea (blue) throws Kirill Denisov of Russia to win the u90kg gold medal by a wazari (7 points)

Under 90kg medallists L-R: Silver; Kirill Denisov RUS, Gold; Dong Han Gwak KOR, Bronzes; Mashu Baker JPN and Varlam Liparteliani GEO

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Mens -90kg Medallists

Under 90kg gold medallist, Dong Han Gwak of South Korea

Under 90kg bronze medallist, Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia

Under 90kg silver medallist, Kirill Denisov of Russia

Under 90kg bronze medallist, Mashu Baker of Japan

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Mens -90kg Statistics A crazy fifth day at the Judo World Championships in Astana. Korea’s Gwak Dong Han surprised the European favourites by taking the gold medal U90kg. Coached by the current Olympic champion Song Dae-Nam, Gwak couldn’t complain about expertise.

Thanks to Dong Han Gwak Korea now have won three world titles in the category for men U90kg. Hwang (2003) and Lee (2009) won the title before him.

U90kg becomes a Korean weight category

6 different winning nations

Dong Han Gwak of Korea won the 2015 Astana gold medal

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2009 Rotterdam champion Kyu-Won Lee of Korea

Ilias Iliadis of Greece enjoying the moment after receiving the 2010 Tokyo gold medal

Hee-Tai Hwang of Korea won the 2003 Osaka gold medal

74 Jasmin Kuelbs of Germany (white) throws Saneayim Erkinbaeva of Uzbekistan for an ippon to win their o78kg contest.

Day 6: Womens +78 kg China had two strong players, Yu Song and Ma Sisi, in this category. In their way would be players like Japan’s Megumi Tachimoto and Cuba’s Olympic champion, Idalys Ortiz. Japan also had a second player, Kanae Yamabe, who could be a dark horse.

Pool A: Yu Song (CHN)

China’s Yu is the top-ranked player here and for good reason. She demolished Turkey’s Belkis Zehra Kaya with an ashi-guruma for waza-ari, an uchimata for yuko and then osaekomi for ippon. Next, she countered BosniaHerzegovina’s Larisa Ceric with uchimata-gaeshi for waza-ari. Lastly, she threw Japan’s Kanae Yamabe with kosoto-gari for yuko and then pinned her for ippon.

Jasmin Kuelbs of Germany (white) throws Saneayim Erkinbaeva of Uzbekistan for an ippon to win their o78kg contest

Pool B: Ma Sisi (CHN)

Yu’s compatriot, Ma was equally devastating in her pool, throwing Brazil’s Rochele Nunes with soto-makikomi for waza-ari. Then, a failed side takedown by Kyrgyzstan’s Nagira Sarbashova led to a pin for ippon. After that, she threw Mexico’s Vanessa Zambotti with soto-makikomi for ippon.

Pool C: Megumi Tachimoto (JPN) Megumi Tachimoto started off well, throwing France’s European champion, Emilie Andeol with harai-goshi for ippon. However, her next two opponents, South Korea’s Kim Minjeong and Cuba’s Idalys Ortiz, both took her into Golden Score where she won by penalties. She had made it through to the semi-finals but did not look as convincing as Yu or Ma.

Pool D: Ksenia Chibisova (RUS)

Russia’s Ksenia Chibisova was noticeably smaller than most players in this weight class but she did remarkably well against much bigger players. She won her first match, against Poland’s Katarzyna Furmanek, through hansokumake due to shidos. She then thrilled the crowd with her determination as she attacked her much bigger opponent, Svitlana Iaromka of Ukraine, with osoto-gari for wazari, uchimata makikomi for yuko and harai-goshi for ippon.

Her next fight, against the athletic German Franziska Konitz was equally stunning, with a win by sasae-tsurikomi-ashi for ippon.

Song Yu of China (white) celebrates winning the o78kg gold medal after defeating Megumi Tachimoto of Japan by 2 shidos (penalties)

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Semi-Finals

The first semi-final match was an all-China affair. Both players obviously knew each other well and cancelled out most of each other’s attacks. In the end Yu managed to pull off a hand counter for yuko. In the other semi-final, Tachimoto had a tough time against the smaller and more mobile Chibisova who took her into Golden Score.

However, once there, Tachimoto was able to catch her with ouchi-gari for yuko.

Bronze

Olympic champion, Idalys Ortiz of Cuba (white) throws Franziska Konitz of Germany for an ippon as she progressed to the o78kg (heavyweight) bronze medal

Olympic champion, Idalys Ortiz of Cuba holds Sisi Ma of China for an ippon to win the o78kg bronze medal

In the first bronze medal match, Yamabe managed to counter Chibisova’s tai-otoshi to score a yuko. Later in the match, she caught Chibisova on the ground and pin her for ippon. Size matters. In the other bronze medal match, Ortiz pulled off a stunning utsuri-goshi that had Ma in the air but since the Chinese player fell on her front, there was no score. Once on the ground, though, Ortiz was able to turn her over and pin her for ippon.

76 Kanae Yamabe of Japan, walking onto the mat, defeated Ksenia Chibisova of Russia with a hold for ippon to win the heavyweight bronze

Gold

Yu and Tachimoto were not able to throw each other so it became a tactical match with Yu attacking relentlessly, causing Tachimoto to incur two shidos.

Song Yu of China (white) won the o78kg gold medal after Megumi Tachimoto of Japan received 2 shidos (penalties) for passivity

Over 78kg medallists L-R: Silver; Megumi Tachimoto (Japan), Gold; Song Yu (China), Bronzes; Kanae Yamabe (Japan) and Idalys Ortiz (Cuba)

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Womens +78kg Medallists

Over 78kg gold medallist, Song Yu of China

Over 78kg bronze medallist, Olympic champion Idalys Ortiz of Cuba

Over 78kg silver medallist, Megumi Tachimoto of Japan is tearful after missing the gold meda

Over 78kg bronze medallist, Kanae Yamabe of Japan

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Womens +78kg Statistics China still dominates women’s heavyweights Yu Song has become the world champion for women +78kg. China was the seventh country to take a world title in Astana. Despite the Ortiz domination for two years, China remains tremendously strong. Megumi Tachimoto won her third consecutive medal, this time silver after two bronze medals. Also Idalys Ortiz won her third medal in a row.

It’s the second time that Japan had two women on the stage +78kg. In 2010 Sugimoto and Tsukada won gold and bronze, this time Tachimoto silver and Yamabe bronze.

Chinese female heavyweight World Champions since 1998 (weight change)

The giant training and warm-up area

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The draw for the team championships was managed by World champion Daniel Lascau of Germany (right) with the assistance of Olympic champion Robert Van de Walle and took place during the afternoon break

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Day 6: Mens -100 kg At the start of the competition, many would have tipped Czech Republic’s defending World Champion Lukas Krpalek to dominate this field. Both former World Champions Elkhan Mammadov of Azerbaijan and Maxim Rakov of Kazakhstan have not repeated their former glory at this level while Krpalek is in his prime. Also, both Japan and South Korea had sent in relatively new players. But this is judo and big surprises can happen.

Pool A: Lukas Krpalek (CZE)

Krpalek may have been the favorite but he had a hard time against his first opponent, Ukraine’s Artem Bloshenko and had to rely on penalties to win. Strangely, he did a lot better against Azerbaijan’s Mammadov whom he threw with ogoshi for waza-ari and then pinned for waza-ariawasatte-ippon. In his next match, against Belgium’s Toma Nikiforov, he was already ahead by two yukos when he attacked with osoto-gari and nearly got countered for ippon – except he was able to spin out to his side and concede only a yuko. He was lucky to have survived that.

Pool B: Karl-Richard Frey (GER)

Germany’s Karl-Richard Frey didn’t have it easy in his first round match, against Canada’s uchimata specialist Kyle Reyes but Frey managed to turn the tables on the Canadian and threw him with an uchimata for yuko. He had a much easier time against Britain’s Benjamin Fletcher, whom he threw twice with uchimata for yuko and waza-ari and then finally with koshi-guruma for ippon. Mongolia’s Tuvshinbayar Naidan took him into Golden Score but once there, he was able to throw the Mongolian with osoto-gari for waza-ari.

Pool C: Cyrille Maret (FRA)

As to be expected, France’s Cyrille Maret’s first match, against home favorite Rakov was a tough one with the Frenchman getting through on penalties. He had a better fight against Italy’s Domenico Di Guida whom he threw with a running tomoe-nage for yuko and a pin for ippon.

Against Kyrgyzstan’s Chingiz Mamedov. Maret was on fire, throwing him with a counter for yuko, an osoto-gari for and waza-ari, and then another osoto-gari for ippon

Pool D: Ryunosuke Haga (JPN)

Dutch veteran campaigner, Henk Grol, was the expected winner in this pool but it was the lesserknown Ryunosuke Haga of Japan who emerged top of the pool. Haga started off well, throwing Serbia’s Stefan Jurisic with his favorite uchimata for ippon. After that, he unexpectedly threw Grol with uchimata for ippon as well. In his next match, against South Korea’s Cho Guham, he was down on penalties with 30 seconds left to go when he managed to pull off yet another uchimata, which scored waza-ari. This brought him up against the burly German Dmitri Peters, whom he couldn’t throw but managed to beat through penalties.

Karl-Richard Frey of Germany (blue) defeated Lukas Krpálek of the Czech Republic with this hiza-guruma (knee wheel) counter throw for ippon to reach the u100kg (light-heavyweight) final and the silver medal

Dimitri Peters of Germany (white) armlocks Gergo Fogasy of Hungary into submission for an ippon (10 points) to reach the u100kg quarter-final

81 Cyrille Maret of France (blue) throws Chingiz Mamedov of Kyrgyzstan for an ippon (10 points) to reach the u100kg semi-final

Semi-Finals

In the first semi-final match, most people would have picked Krpalek over Frey but the German surprised, including Krpalek, with a massive counter against osoto-gari for ippon. In the other semi-final match, Haga was losing to Maret on penalties when, with just 20 seconds to go, he pulled off another one of his uchimatas for yuko.

Bronze

Nikiforov’s bronze medal performance is the stuff of legend. Early in the bout, he severely injured his left hand, to the point that he could barely hold on to Maret’s sleeve. By the last minute of the match, he had already racked up three shidos and was in danger of getting a hansokumake when a counter opportunity presented itself and he made full use of it, scoring a waza-ari. Maret, realizing that time was not on his side, threw caution to the wind and went after Nikiforov. A flurry of attacks and counter attacks resulted in a soto-makikomi by the Belgian for a crowdpleasing ippon. It was an amazing display of courage and determination.

In the other bronze medal match, Krpalek was pit against another German, Peters, and yet again he was up-ended by a counter. This time it was when he tried to do a kosoto-gari. Instead of scoring, he found himself flat on his back for ippon. It was a bad tournament for Krpalek.

Karl-Richard Frey of Germany (blue) defeated Lukas Krpálek of the Czech Republic with a huge counter throw for ippon to reach the u100kg (light-heavyweight) final while watched by the VIPs who are stunned by the quality of the throw.

Toma Nikiforov of Belgium (white) defeated Cyrille Maret of France to win the u100kg bronze medal Dimitri Peters of Germany (white) armlocks Gergo Fogasy of Hungary into submission for an ippon (10 points) to reach the u100kg quarter-final

Karl-Richard Frey of Germany (blue) defeated Lukas Krpálek of the Czech Republic with this counter throw for ippon to reach the u100kg (light-heavyweight) final and the silver medal

82 Ryunosuke Haga of Japan (blue), here countering an attack, defeated Karl-Richard Frey of Germany by a single shido (penalty) to claim the u100kg gold medal

Gold

Haga had shown some remarkable uchimata throwing power in the earlier rounds but Frey was on a roll as well, so it was bound to be a tough fight. In the end, neither could throw the other but by the end of the match, Haga had one penalty less than Frey, and was thus the new world champion in this category.

Ryunosuke Haga of Japan (white) throws Stefan Jurisic of Serbia for an ippon (10 points) with uchimata (inner thigh throw) on his way to the u100kg (light-heavyweight) gold medal

Ryunosuke Haga of Japan (blue) defeated Karl-Richard Frey of Germany by a single shido (penalty) to claim the u100kg gold medal

Under 100kg medallists L-R: Silver; Karl-Richard Frey (Germany), Gold; Ryunosuke Haga (Japan), Bronzes; Toma Nikiforov (Belgium) and Dimitri Peters (Germany)

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Mens -100kg Medallists

Under 100kg gold medallist, Ryunosuke Haga of Japan

Under 100kg bronze medallist, Dimitri Peters of Germany

Under 100kg silver medallist, Karl-Richard Frey of Germany

Under 100kg bronze medallist, Toma Nikiforov of Belgium

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Mens -100kg Statistics

The title U100kg is back in Japan. The last winner was Takamasa Anai in 2010, Kosei Inoue (3) and Keiji Suzuki won world titles as well in this category.

Both Frey (2013) and Peters (2014) had won World bronze and added a second medal.

The silver of Frey was the best ever performance for Germany in this category.

At the last day the impossible happened to Toma Nikiforov of Belgium. He took the bronze, while injured but showed his persistence and gave Belgium a smile afterall. He whipped away the poor zero of last year and became a true medal hope for Rio 2016 Kosei Inoue of Japan, here throwing for ippon at the 2004 Athens Olympics, won the u100kg World title 3 times

World Champions U100kg

85 Ryunosuke Haga of Japan walks off the mat with his coach, Keiji Suzuki, after winning the u100kg gold medal and is congratulated by Yasuhiro Yamashita

Karl-Richard Frey of Germany waits patiently before being called forward for the u100kg final against Ryunosuke Haga of Japan that he lost by a single shido (penalty) to claim the u100kg silver medal

Dimitri Peters of Germany leaves the mat after his u100kg bronze medal victory to be congratulated by his coach and former World champion, Detlef Ultsch

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Day 6: Mens +100 kg

Iakiv Khammo of Ukraine (white) heaves Sung-Min Kim of South Korea high into the air with uranage (rear throw) to throw for ippon (10 points) and win the o100kg bronze medal

There isn’t any category where the outcome of the gold medal is as certain as the +100kg division where France’s Teddy Riner towers (literally and figuratively) over every other player. The only player pundits thought might have a sliver of a chance against him was Japan’s Ryu Shichinohe who had nearly thrown Riner in the last World Championships final.

Pool A: Teddy Riner (FRA)

There is no question Riner has massive throwing power but unlike Japan’s big throwers, he does not always aim for the ippon. He fought very cautiously in his opening bout, against Estonia’s Juhan Mettis, whom he was only able to throw in the last minute of the contest, with harai-makikomi for ippon. Against Kyrgystan’s Iurii Krakovetskii, Riner used sumi-gaeshi to score waza-ari first and then osoto-gari for ippon. Against Germany’s Andre Breitbarth, Riner threw with his favorite uchimata for waza-ari, and then pinned him for yuko before the German submitted, giving him an ippon win.

Pool B: Kim Sung-Min (KOR)

South Korea’s Kim Sung-Min defeated Israel’s Or Sasson with harai-makikomi for yuko and then pinned him for ippon. Next, he did a surprise side takedown on Romania’s Daniel Natea for ippon. He used a hand technique to take Hungary’s Barna Bor down for a waza-ari and achieved a submission during hold down for ippon.

Pool C: Adam Okruashvili (GEO)

Georgia’s Adam Okruashvili defeated Poland’s Maciej Sarnacki with a soto-makikomi for waza-ari. After that, he threw the Czech Republic’s Michal Horak with a side takedown for waza-ari and a hand technique for ippon. But his most impressive performance was his match against Sven Heinle whom he threw with a big ura-nage for ippon.

Pool D: Ryu Shichinohe (JPN)

Riner’s main rival, Japan’s Shichinohe had some trouble with the very athletic David Moura of Brazil and had to rely on penalties to win. Against Austria’s Daniel Allerstorfer, he did better, scoring a yuko from uchimata. In his third match, he did even better, scoring an ippon against Iakiv Khammo with osoto-gari.

Andre Breitbarth of Germany (blue) held Alex Garcia Mendoza of Cuba for an ippon on his way to the o100kg quarter-final

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Barna Bor of Hungary (white) defeated Freddy Figueroa of Ecuador by 3 yukos to reach the o100kg (heavyweight) quarter-final

Semi-Finals

Riner had fought Kim many times and beat him soundly each time. And so it was here too. First, he threw Kim with a sumi-gaeshi for waza-ari and then he pinned him. Remarkably, the South Korean managed to escape, conceding only a yuko. Riner then proceeded to throw him with another sumi-gaeshi, for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Okruashvili was the bigger player but it also meant he was less mobile compared to Shichinohe. Down on penalties, Okruashvili attempted a desperate kosoto-gari which was easily stopped by the Japanese, who followed up with a pin for ippon.

Teddy Riner of France (white) throws Lurii Krakovetskii of Kyrgyzstan for an ippon on his way to the o100kg final where he won the gold medal

Daniel Natea of Romania (white) throws Rashed Zaidan of Saudi Arabia for an ippon to win their o100kg (heavyweight) opening match

Bronze

Okruashvili didn’t have an easy fight against Breitbarth and his uchimata attempt looked like it was going to be countered but the German didn’t have enough power to push it through and instead fell down for waza-ari.

It was enough for the Georgian to take the bronze, though he was breathing very heavily for it. As if to give the audience a better show, Khammo countered Kim’s opening attack, a soto makikomi, with a massive ura-nage that had the South Korean flying through the air and the audience cheering wildly.

Andre Breitbarth of Germany (white) throws Sam Rosser of New Zealand for an ippon to win their o100kg contest

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Gold

Ever since he very nearly scored against Riner in their gold medal match at the 2014 Chelyabinsk World Championships, Shichinohe has been regarded as the one player who might be able to upset the mighty Frenchman. They had something of a rematch in the Rabat World Masters final but there Riner dominated him for an indisputable ippon. Still, many wondered whether the Japanese might be better prepared this time around. As it turned out, Riner wasn’t able to score ippon but it wasn’t anything resembling a close match. Shichinohe was thrown twice with sumi-gaeshi, once for waza-ari and another time for yuko. Gold again for Riner.

The magic word “Eight” is formed by Teddy Riner with his fingers after he won his eighth World gold medal

Teddy Riner of France (white) defeated Sung-Min Kim of South Korea to win the o100kg semi-final as Riner progressed to the final and claim his eighth o100kg gold medal

Teddy Riner of France (white) counters Ryu Shichinohe of Japan for a yuko to win his eighth heavyweight World title by a wazari and yuko

Over 100kg medallists L-R: Silver; Ryu Shichinohe (Japan), Gold; Teddy Riner (France), Bronzes; Adam Okruashvili (Georgia) and Iakiv Khammo (Ukraine)

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Mens +100kg Medallists

Teddy Riner of France, who has become an extraordinary legend at just 26, celebrates winning his eighth World title

Over 100kg bronze medallist, Adam Okruashvili of Georgia

Over 100kg silver medallist, Ryu Shichinohe of Japan

Over 100kg bronze medallist, Iakiv Khammo of Ukraine

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Mens +100kg Statistics Over 100kg medallists L-R: Silver; Ryu Shichinohe (Japan), Gold; Teddy Riner (France), Bronzes; Adam Okruashvili (Georgia) and Iakiv Khammo (Ukraine)

Men O100kg The domination of Teddy Riner Teddy Riner won his eighth World title in Astana. Seven of them in the men’s over 100kg category. He won the open category in 2008. Alexander Mikhailin was another big champion, but there’s no stopping Riner.

Teddy Riner of France won his first World gold medal at the 2007 Rio championships

The percentage of ippons was the highest +100kg where 76% of all matches ended by ippon. The lowest percentage ippons was achieved U60kg with just 51%. In the women’s division the highest percentage of ippons was made +78kg, also the heavyweight category and 47% U57kg and U63kg.

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Eight times World champion, Teddy Riner of France is being prepared to be interviewed live for French Television after the heavyweight medal ceremony

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Day 7: Men’s Teams Event .

After six days of individual competition, which saw only one of 14 world champions from 2014 retain their title in recordbreaking Teddy Riner of France, the world waited with expectations for the team event which has become a grand occasion in the sport. In fact, it is the IJF’s objective to get the team competition into the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The women’s event featured 15 teams while the men’s event featured 14 teams with Japan the top seeds in the former and France occupying top billing in the latte.

Mens Bronze 1: Kazakhstan vs Mongolia Former World Champion Khashbaatar Tsagaabaatar (MGL) threw Gabit Yessimbetov (KAZ) for a waza-ari to win the match. First point for Mongolia.

Odbayar Ganbaatar (MGL) won the second point for Mongolia after Zhansay Smagulov (KAZ) got hansoku-make for accumulating four shidos.

Uuganbaatar Otgonbaatar (MGL) won the decisive third point for Mongolia with a strangulation win for ippon.

Sebastian Seidl of the German team threw Charles Chibana of Brazil for a wazari in extra time to win the contest with Germany winning 3:2 but missing a men’s medal later in the competition

Miku Tashiro of the Japanese team (white) holds Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren of the Mongolian team with this rare hold for ippon (10 points) helping the Japanese to win 5:0 as they progressed to the gold medal

Goki Maruyama of Japan throws Sven Maresch of Germany for a wazari (7 points) that helped the Japanese team to defeat Germany 3:2 as they progressed to the gold medal

93 Varlam Liparteliani of the Georgian team throws Kirill Voprosov of the Russian team for a yuko and then holds him for an ippon enabling Georgia to beat Russia by 3:2. Georgia then went on to defeat Germany 4:1 to win the bronze medal

Marcelo Contini of Brazil (blue) holds Igor Wandtke of Germany for an ippon (10 points) but eventually the Brazilians lost 3: to Germany

Sebastian Seidl of Germany celebrates throwing Kengo Takaichi of the Japanese team to put Germany temporarily in the lead. Japan eventually won the semi-final 3:2 as they progressed to the gold medal

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Mongolia then added a fourth point with the victory of Lkhagvasuren Otgonbaatar (MGL) against Samat Yessen (KAZ).

Former World Champion Maxim Rakov (KAZ) salvaged some pride for the home team by defeating Mongolia’s former Olympic Champion Tuvshinbayar Naidan. But Mongolia won 4-1 for the bronze

Bronze 2: Georgia vs Germany Vazha Margvelashvili (GEO) defeated Sebastian Seidl (GER) with a small yuko victory but it got Georgia its first point.

Olympic Champion Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO) then defeated Igor Wandtke (GER) with a waza-ari score for the second point.

Germany had to win the next match to stay in contention for the bronze and Sven Maresch (GER) pulled through for this team by throwing Nugzari Tatalashvili (GEO) with kosoto-gari for yuko. It was enough for him to win the match and get Germany its first point.

After receiving the IJF flag from President Marius Vizer, Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov passes the flag to Dr Laszlo Toth, President of the Hungarian Judo Association (who will host the 2017 World Judo Championships in Budapest) during the closing ceremony

95 Odbayar Ganbaatar of the Mongolian team (blue) dominated Nugzari Tatalashvili of Georgia to win their contest by an ippon and their team match 3:2.

However, both men’s teams ended as bronze medal winners and stood alongside each other on the podium

The German men’s team with Sebastian Seidl in front defeated the Chinese team 3:2

Baul An (South Korea), who won the u66kg individual gold medal, lost his team final match to Masashi Ebinuma (Japan) by a shido penalty during the 2015 Astana World Judo Team Championships men’s final

Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren of Mongolia (blue) throws Beka Gviniashvili of Georgia for a yuko but the Georgian fought back to win the match by ippon with Georgia eventually winning a bronze medal

Varlam Liparteliani of the Georgian team throws Kirill Voprosov of the Russian team for a yuko and then holds him for an ippon enabling Georgia to beat Russia by 3:2. Georgia then went on to defeat Germany 4:1 to win the bronze medal

Riki Nakaya of Japan lost by an ippon An Changrim of South Korea in the men’s final. Korea eventually lost the team final by 2:3 with Japan sweeping the board including the women’s gold

Mr. Karim Massimov, Kazakhstan Prime Minister, respectfully stands during the Kazakhstan National Anthem

96 With the score level in the final men’s team match, Takeshi Ojitani defeated Sung-Min Kim of Korea by a single shido to give victory to the Japanese team

Final Triple World Champion Masashi Ebinuma (JPN) had a hard time against the rising star An Baul (KOR) but won out in the end through penalties. First point goes to Japan.

Double World Champion Riki Nakaya (JPN) played really tactical match against An Changrim (KOR) and was ahead on penalties when An managed to sneak in a reverse seoi-nage for waza-ari and the win. Now it was 1-1.

The third contest saw newly-minted World Champion Takanori Nagase (JPN) go up against Lee Seungsu (KOR). It was a tough match but in the end, the Japanese won by penalties. Japan was now head 2-1.

South Korea had to win the next match to stay in contention for bronze and newlycrowned World Champion Gwak Dong-Han (KOR) came through for his team, defeating Yuya Yoshida (JPN) in a closely fought match determined by penalties.

2-2! The gripping last fight was a really hard fought one between Takeshi Ojitani (JPN) and Kim Sung-Min (KOR). Both players were given a shido each. Then Ojitani upped the pace causing Kim to get a second shido. Ojitani then held on to his lead until time ran out, giving Japan the winning score of 3-2.

Final Results

1. Japan (JPN) 2. Korea, South (KOR) 3. Mongolia (MGL) 3. Georgia (GEO) The Japanese fans were pleased with the men’s gold medal being added to the earlier women’s team gold medal

97 With the score level in the final men’s team match, Takeshi Ojitani of Japan (white) had to beat Sung-Min Kim of Korea and did so by a single shido (penalty) to give victory to the Japanese team

Takanori Nagase of Japan throws Seung-Su Lee of South Korea without a score eventually winning the contest by a penalty against Lee with Japan winning the team gold medal by 3:2

An Changrim of South Korea, here throwing without a score, defeated Riki Nakaya of Japan by an ippon. Korea eventually lost the team final by 2:3 with Japan sweeping the board including the women’s gold

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The gold medal winning Japanese men’s team (L-R); Masashi Ebinuma, Riki Nakaya, Takanori Nagase, Yuya Yoshida and Takeshi Ojitani

The successful Japanese Team of 10, with reserves, included, Shohei Ono, Kengo Takaichi, Masashi Ebinuma, Riki Nakaya, Takanori Nagase, Mashu Baker, Ryunosuke Haga and Ryu Shichinohe, standing during the Japanese National Anthem

99 Japanese heavyweight gold medal winning team member, Takeshi Ojitani, about to receive the winning cup from his team mates

Successful Japanese gold medal winning team member, Mashu Baker

The bronze medal winning Mongolian team

The bronze medal winning Mongolian team, including former World champion, Tsagaanbaatar Khashbaatar (left) and Beijing Olympic gold medallist Tuvshinbayar Naidan (second from left)

Members of the bronze medal winning Georgian men’s team including former World champion, Avtandili Tchrikishvili second from left

Japanese Team World champions, Shohei Ono (left), Riki Nakaya and Masashi Ebinuma during a photo session after the Japanese Men’s team won the gold medal

The men’s teams medallists (L-R): Silver; South Korea, Gold; Japan, Bronzes; Mongolia and Georgia

100 former world champion, Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia is stunned after being thrown for an ippon (10 points) by Mareen Kraeh of Germany. Eventually the German team defeated Mongolia by 3:2 to win the bronze medal

Day 7: Women’s Teams Event .

Bronze 1: Kazakhstan vs Mongolia Women’s Team Bronze 1: Germany vs Mongolia

Germany scored its first point when Mareen Kraeh (GER) threw Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL) with oguruma for ippon.

Mongolia secured a penalty victory in the match between Sumiya Dorjsuren (MGL) and Miryam Roper (GER). It was now 1-1.

Mongolia then got its second point when Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren (MGL) threw Martyna Trajdos (GER) with ippon-seoi-nage for ippon. It was now Mongolia 2-1.

Germany came back with a stunning victory when Szaundra Diedrich (GER) scored an ippon in the dying seconds of her match against Tserennadmid Tsend-Ayush (MGL). The score was now 2-2 which meant the final match would be the tie-breaker.

Javzmaa Odkhuu (MGL) and Luise Malzahn (GER) had a yuko and shido each when the Mongolian managed to throw Malzahn for waza-ari. The German player however had the presence of mind to immediately launch into an armlock for ippon. Gemany had won itself the bronze medal.

2013 World champion, Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia is stunned after being thrown for an ippon (10 points) by Mareen Kraeh of Germany. Eventually the German team defeated Mongolia by 3:2 to win the bronze medal

Martyna Trajdos (Germany) is stunned after being thrown for ippon (10 points) by Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren (Mongolia) to give the Mongolian team the lead. Two contests later the Germans won the bronze by 3 matches to two

101 To the great joy of her fellow German team mates, Luise Malzahn armlocks Javzmaa Odkhuu of Mongolia into submission enabling Germany to win the team bronze medal by 3:2

Luise Malzahn of Germany (white) is here thrown by Javzmaa Odkhuu of Mongolia but fought back to win by an ippon

The German women’s team defeated the Mongolian team 3:2 to win the bronze medal. L-R: Mareen Kraeh, Miryam Roper, Martyna Trajdos, Szaundra Diedrich and Luise Malzahn

102 Automne Pavia of the French team defeated Tatiana Kazenyuk of Russia by an ippon with a hold

Automne Pavia of the French team defeated Tatiana Kazenyuk of Russia by an ippon with a hold

Gevrise Emane of the French team (white) held Iana Kriukova for a yuko with this hold but the French eventually lost to Russia

Gevrise Emane of the French team (white) held Iana Kriukova for a yuko with this hold but the French eventually lost to Russia

103 Misato Nakamura (blue) threw Karolina Pienkowska and then held her to win their team contest by ippon (10 points) with Japan eventually defeating Poland 5:0 for the gold medal

Bronze 2: South Korea vs Russia Yulia Ryzhova (RUS) won Russia its first point by pinning Kim Mi-Ri for ippon.

Kim Jan-Di (KOR) evened up the scores with a yuko victory.

It was now 1-1.

Ekaterina Valkova (RUS) then armlocked Bak Ji-Yun (KOR) for ippon. It was now 2-1 for Russia.

Iana Kriukova (RUS) had a walkover in her match which meant it was now 3-1 for Russia.

With the bronze medal match already secured by Russia, the final match was just a formality but Kim Min-Jeong (KOR) gave it all she had and scored an ippon against Aleksandra Babintceva (RUS). Final tally was Russia 3 and Korea 2.

Misato Nakamura (blue) threw Karolina Pienkowska and then held her to win their team contest by ippon (10 points) with Japan eventually defeating Poland 5:0 for the gold medal

Final The surprise team in the final was Poland which squared off against Japan for the gold medal. For the first fight, newlyminted 2015 World Champion Misato Nakamura went up against Karolina Pienkowska. Nakamura scored two quick yukos before pinning her Polish opponent for ippon to secure the first win for Japan.

The second win for Japan was secured by Anzu Yamamoto who armlocked Arleta Podolak for ippon. Miku Tashiro made it three for Japan by throwing Anna Borowska for yuko and then pinning her for ippon.

Miku Tashiro of Japan holds Anna Borowska of Poland to win the u63kg team category and take Japan to the team gold medal

The fourth win for Japan was a hard fought one with Chizuru Arai not being able to score against Katarzyna Klys although she nearly did so with an ouchi-gari that was initially given a yuko before being cancelled. At the end of their match, the Polish player was down by a shido, which meant another victory for Japan.

The last fight of the competition pitted Kanae Yamabe against Daria Pogorzelec. The Japanese player used a powerful harai-goshi to score ippon and give her country the fifth point for a perfect win in the women’s team event.

Final Results 1. Japan (JPN) 2. Poland (POL) 3. Germany (GER) 3. Russia (RUS)

Kanae Yamabe of Japan throws Daria Pogorzelec of Poland for ippon to take the Japanese women’s team to 5:0 and the gold medal

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After the medal ceremony the German women’s team (L-R), Laura Vargas Koch, Szaundra Diedrich, Jasmin Kuelbs, Mareen Kraeh, Luise Malzahn, Miryam Roper, Franziska Konitz, Viola Waechter and Martyna Trajdos proudly show off their bronze medals

The gold medal winning Japanese women’s team (Lightest first): Ami Kondo, Misato Nakamura, Kaori Matsumoto, Anzu Yamamoto, Miku Tashiro, Chizuru Arai, Karen Nun Ira, Megumi Tachimoto and Kanae Yamabe

105 The silver medal winning Polish women’s team including (ordered by weight with lightest first): Karolina Pienkowska, Anna Borowska, Arleta Podolak, Agata Ozdoba, Karolina Talach, Katarzyna Klys, Katarzyna Furmanek and Daria Pogorzelec

The combined medal winning women’s teams of Japan (Gold), Poland (Silver) and Germany and Russia (Bronze)

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Day 7: World Championships Teams Stats.

2014 Golden French team misses the podium The seventh place at the team even for the French women was below the expectations. The golden team of Chelyabinsk were surprised by the unexpected strong team of Russia. The French men were unlucky with a draw against the strong Korean team. Japan took the double for the first time since 2002. It’s the first time since 2010 that the French miss the podium.

Japan takes the team double The team of Japan is fully back in the top of judo. Forget 2012, they’re back. With the double in the team event, for the first time since 2002 and six gold medals, four silver medals and five bronze medals the team impressed like never before.

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In Basel in 2002 the Japanese women’s team defeated the Korean team for the gold medal

Kosei Inoue of Japan scores ippon in front of his team mates when they won the gold medal at the 2002 Basel World Teams

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Stats: Historical section Seeded players out before the final block Not for each high seeded players was the World Championships a success. Despite a heavy draw some seeded players didn’t survive their first match.

World number one, Georgii Zantaraia of Ukraine (white), was unexpectedly eliminated in his first u66kg contest by Golan Pollack of Israel

Also last year some shockers were applicable in the first rounds. Watch the world ranking top 5 just in advance of the World Championships in Chelyabinsk and see some of the same names, even after their poor performance at the Worlds in 2014, they were still in the top 5, but a recovery in 2015 was never the case for some players.

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Teddy Riner of France became the youngest male World champion at 18 years and 159 days when he won the o100kg (heavyweight) World gold medal during the 2007 Rio World Judo Championships

The “Russian Bear�, Vitali Kuznetsov of the Soviet Union is the oldest male World medal winner having won a bronze at the 1979 Paris Worlds at the age of 38 years and 299 days

Age Records Youngest World Champion men

Youngest World Championships medallists men

Oldest World Champion men

Legendary Anton Geesink, who died in 2010, is the oldest male World champion at 31 years and 194 days, a record that he has held since 1965 when he won the gold medal at the 1965 Rio Worlds

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Oldest World Championships medallists men

Youngest World Champions women

Youngest World Championships medallists women

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Fumiko Ezaki of Japan, at just 15 years and 29 days, at the 1986 Maastricht Worlds where she won the u48kg silver medal remaining the youngest female World medallist

Ryoko Tamura of Japan enjoys the fact that she is the youngest ever World champion at 18 years and 27 days while wearing her u48kg (extra-lightweight) gold medal at the 1993 Hamilton World Championships, Canada

Oldest World Champions women

Oldest World Championships medallists women

Driulis Gonzalez of Cuba is the oldest female World champion at 34 yrs when she won the 2007 Rio u63kg gold medal. She was also inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame at the Astana World Championships

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Toma Nikiforov of Belgium (white) defeated Cyrille Maret of France to win the u100kg bronze medal during the 2015 Astana World Judo Team Championships

Two years of waiting for the 150st medal of France The loss of Cyrille Maret against the injured Toma Nikiforov was interesting for a number of reasons. France could have achieved their 150th individual medal. The last medal of the day was obviously Teddy Riner’s unmatched 8th world title. It was the 149th medal in the history of the World Championships. The nations in the all time medal table were exactly the successful countries in this edition. Japan climbed over 300 medals in total this championship. France is ranked second with 47 gold medals, 32 silver and 70 bronze medals, the 150th will have to wait until 2017. Korea is now at 27 gold medals including the two of 2015. The Koreans have a remarkable balance in finals, they won 27 and lost only 8! China gained one place thanks to Yu Song. It passed Cuba with 19 medals, followed by Cuba with 18.

The participants in the last 5 editions per category

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Pre Olympic World Champions have a chance Of the 14 World Champions in the pre Olympic year 2011 four became Olympic champion in 2012 Kim JaeBum (KOR), Tagir Khaibulaev (RUS), Teddy Riner (FRA) and Lucie Decosse (FRA). Nonetheless 11 out of the 14 won an Olympic medal. In 2007 Irakli Tsirekidze (GEO) and Wen Tong (CHN) were the only ones to follow up his world title with Olympic gold.

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How was the year for the medallists Everyone is curious how the year of preparation was for the final medallists of Astana 2015. Watch the results per months of all medallist and the medals they achieved during the year.

September 2014

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116 Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia started his year with a gold medal at the February 2015 Dusseldorf Grand Prix.

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Top 10 Noteworthy Things Top 10 Noteworthy Things at 2015 Astana World Championships Here are the Top 10 things that were noteworthy at the 2015 Astana World Judo Championships (not in any order of merit):

1. There is still nobody who can beat Teddy Riner shown in this picture throwing Andre Breitbarth of Germany for an ippon.

2. An unprecedented number of top champions (male and female) fell in the preliminary rounds, with quite a few in their very first fights!

The picture shows Olympic champion, Kayla Harrison of the USA who normally medals but was eliminated in her second contest in extra time by a wazari throw.

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3. Russia, the top performing country in the 2012 London Olympic Games judo competition, performed below expectations, coming in at No. 8 in the individual medal hauls behind Argentina, Slovenia and Kazakhstan. Russia – pictured here in the men’s team event where they finished fifth - now has a year to remedy the situation before the 2016 Rio Olympics.

4. Several players including a couple of top champions were disqualified for waki-gatame. The picture shows a waki-gatame by four times world silver medallist, Telma Monteiro of Portugal that she was disqualified for.

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5. Drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi has been a regular fixture in international judo for some time, especially amongst Cuban women. But now that the rest of the world seems to have caught up with its potential and many players were seen doing it. This picture shows Sven Maresch of Germany effectively launching his opponent for ippon.

6. Reverse seoi-nage is still very much a South Korean phenomenon as the video snippet shows of An Changrim in the u73kg division finishing with bronze. There were a handful of Europeans and a few Japanese using it occasionally but it was the South Koreans who persisted with it. This is not surprising as it originated in South Korea.

7. There has been a steady rise in the number of players who do ura-nage. This throw used to be an East European phenomenon but today players from around the world – even those from developing judo countries – are using this technique. The picture shows Vanessa Chala of Ecuador throwing Laura Vargas Koch of Germany for an ippon.

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8. There were also many successful te-waza (hand techniques) that were used to take an opponent down. In all these cases it was a perfect example of using your opponent’s strength and momentum against them as shown in this video snippet where Avtandili Tchrikishvili of Georgia scores ippon on Frank De Wit of Holland.

10. Judo is really physical chess and many matches were won tactically. If you rely purely on throwing abilities, it’s really not enough to win a gold medal unless you are Shohei Ono of Japan shown in this picture using his impressive harai-goshi to reach the gold medal.

9. There were lots of attempts at tomoe-nage as pictured here where Riki Nakaya of Japan (white) attempts a tomoe-nage on Ang Changrim but, as several times before, fails to score.

Of many attempts few succeeded making it look as though it was primarily used as a means to stay busy and avoid shido.

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IJF Hall of Fame Prior to the judo competition, nine more distinguished members of the judo family were inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame which recognises the contributions of these prominent figures in world judo.

IJF President Marius Vizer’s Opening Address “Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues and distinguished guests, this is the second IJF Hall of Fame evening following Rio in 2013.

Today we celebrate and honour the careers of our heroes once again. It is an honour to be in your presence and to continue to develop the image and promotion of our sport together.”

Haruki Uemura (JPN): World and Olympic Champion “Judo is one of the Olympic sports and it also helps to foster a good personality and encourages people to engage in good behaviour. From now on my mission is to pass on judo properly to the next generation. In order to achieve this mission, I would like to do my best to work closely with Mr. Vizer and all of the judo family here for the proper development and diffusion of judo.”

Yasuhiro Yamashita (JPN): 4-time World Champion and Olympic Champion “ It is such an honour for me to be inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame and awarded with such great champions.” Jeon Ki-Young (KOR): 3-time World Champion and Olympic Champion“The award means a great deal to me. I am very happy to be inducted and honoured on such a special night for the judo family.”

Shota Chochishvili (GEO): Olympic Champion Note: Shota Chochishvili passed away on August 27, 2009. His son Ramaz Chochishvili collected the award on his father’s behalf. “I am so happy to accept this award. I would like to give a special thank you to the IJF President Marius Vizer. I thank you all so much, this is the greatest achievement for Georgian judo.”

Karen Briggs (GBR): 4-time World Champion and 5 times European Champion“ I feel very privileged and honoured. I am very saddened that my coach Roy Inman is not here, he was our rock for the British women’s team in the 80s. I thank the IJF, it is great to be here, thank you all.”

Driulis Gonzalez (CUB): 3-time World and Olympic Champion “It is wonderful to be here, I feel very honoured, to receive this award. This award is really for all generations, present and past, thanks to you all.”Gella Vandecavaye (BEL): 2-time World Champion“I would like to thank the IJF for this award, for this support and inspiration, to my federation and coaches for having belief in me. I want to thank you all.”

Soraya Haddad (ALG): World and Olympic Bronze Medallist “I am so happy to be here, thank you all, thank you to Mr. Vizer for all of your efforts to develop judo all over the world. I feel very grateful to be here and thank you very much.” Maria Pekli (AUS): Olympic bronze medallist “I thank the IJF and everyone who has been a part of my career, it is an honour for our country, thank you very much.”

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IJF President, Marius Vizer (left), presents the framed Hall of Fame certificate to former Olympic and World champion, Haruki Uemura of Japan

IJF President, Marius Vizer (left), presents the framed Hall of Fame certificate to legendary former Olympic and World champion, Yasuhiro Yamashita of Japan

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Dr Karen Inman (nee Briggs) proudly shows her judo statuette while holding her framed Hall of Fame certificate received from EJU President, Sergey Soloveychik

Ramaz Chochishvili talks with pride about his late Olympic and World champion father, Shota Chochisvili, after receiving the framed Hall of Fame certificate on his behalf

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Olympic champion and triple World champion, Driulis Gonzalez of Cuba, received her framed Hall of Fame certificate from IJF director Manuel Larranaga of Mexico

Olympic and World bronze medallist, Soraya Haddad of Algeria, receives her framed Hall of Fame certificate and judo statuette from African Judo Union President, Lassana Palenfo of the Ivory Coast

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President of the Asia Judo Union, Mr Obaid Al-Anzi of Kuwait, hands the Hall of Fame framed document to Olympic champion and triple World champion, Ki-Young Jeon of South Korea

10th dan George Kerr CBE of Great Britain demonstrates to Ronnie Saez and Oon Yeoh how he tried to throw the unbeatable Anton Geesink in 1962

Dr Karen Inman (nee Briggs) proudly stands beneath the giant picture of her holding one of her 4 World gold medals before being presented with the Hall of Fame framed certificate

Gella Vandecaveye of Belgium and Driulis Gonzales of Cuba enjoy the moment after receiving the Hall of Fame certificates

Legends and Hall of Fame awardees, Karen Inman (nee Briggs) (GBR) and Yasuhiro Yamashita (JPN) pose for the camera Fellow Hall of Fame awardees, Soraya Haddad (ALG), Yasuhiro Yamashita (JPN) and Ki-Young Jeon (KOR) happily share the moment Oceana Judo Union President Lennie Niit of Tonga presents Olympic bronze medallist, Maria Pekli of Australia with her framed Hall of Fame certificate

Olympic and World champion and judo legend, Yasuhiro Yamashita (left) poses with Hirofumi Otsuji, Kodokan manager for International Affairs

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Judo legend, Yasuhiro Yamashita of Japan is interviewed before the start

General Secretary of the German Judo Federation, Reinhard Nimz (left), IJF Floor Manager, Claudio Chimoiu (centre) and German Judo Federation President, Peter Frese pose for the camera

Hall of Fame awardees (L-R): Ramaz Chochisvili representing his late father, Shota Chochishvili, Haruki Uemura, Gella Vandecaveye, Maria Pekli, Driulis Gonzales, Karen Briggs, Soraya Haddad, Yasuhiro Yamashita and Ki-Young Jeon

Double World champion and Olympic silver medallist, Gella Vandecaveye of Belgium, received the framed Hall of Fame certificate from former World champion and IJF Secretary, Jean-Luc Rouge, along with the statuete

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Hall of Famers 2015 stats The IJF presented its Olympic and World Champions as heroes and gives them the spotlight their immense talents deserve. The class of 2015 includes Ramaz Chochishvili (GEO), as son of Shota Chochishvili - Haruki Uemura (JPN) Gella Vandecaveye (BEL) - Maria Pekli (AUS) - Driulis Gonzalez (CUB) - Karen Briggs (GBR) - Soraya Haddad (ALG) - Yasuhiro Yamashita (JPN) - Ki-Young Jeon (KOR).

Shota Chochishvili Ramaz Chochishvili, the son of Shota Chochishvili, was congratulated for the honours of his father Shota, a legend for Georgian judo, in the time of the Soviet Union. Shota Chochishvili was 1972 Olympic Champion for the Soviet Union. He won bronze in Montreal in 1976. Ramaz Chochishvili himself won 3 European Championships medals 1996-2003 and he won four international medals at World Cups.

Shota Chochishvili

Ramaz Chochishvili

Haruki Uemura (JPN) Japanese Haruki Uemura is the 1976 Olympic Champion following his 1975 World Championships Victory. He was finallist at the worlds in 1973. He became President of the All Japan Judo Federation and later president of the Kodokan.

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Gella Vandecaveye (BEL) Belgian Judo legend Gella Vandecaveye is 1996 and 2000 Olympic medallist and 1993 and 2001 World Champ. She won 7 European titles (1994-2011) and 11 medals. Always supported by Eddy Vinckier, coached by Jean Marie Dedecker.

Vandecaveye Travelled the world and met with Vladimir Putin and Daila Lama. Tonight she was added with a high honour as Hall of Famer.

Maria Pekli (AUS) Maria Pekli was born in Budapest, but in 1996 she moved to Australia and went on to win a Sydney 2000 Olympic bronze medal. Five times Olympic participant and a legend for Australia. The first Oceania member of the IJF Hall of Fame.

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Driulis Gonzalez (CUB) Cuban Driulis Gonzalez is triple World Champion (1995, 1999 and 2007) and 1996 Olympic Champion from Atlanta.

Winner of four Olympic medals 1992-2004 and seven World medals. She won over 10 Pan American titles. She dominated the categories U57kg and U63kg.

Karen Briggs (GBR) British fighter Karen Briggs was four times World Champion 1982-1989 but finished 5th at the Barcelona Games. Briggs won 10 European medals including five titles U48kg. She won the Tournoi de Paris in 1992. Briggs won countless events in Fukuoka, London, Leonding and many other judo cities

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Soraya Haddad (ALG) Algerian judoka Soraya Haddad was 2008 Olympic bronze medallist in Beijing U52kg. She was 2005 Worlds bronze medallist and 7th at 2007 Worlds in Rio de Janeiro. She is multiple African Champio

Yasuhiro Yamashita (JPN) Japanese superstar Yasuhiro Yamashita is the best judoka of his generation, a judo phenomenon who won the All Japan title from 1977-1985, 9 years in a row. He won four world titles in 1979, 1981 and 1983. In 1984 he finally won the Olympic title in Los Angeles. Yamashita won 203 matches in a row since 1977 most by ippon. Yamashita was not only added to the Hall of Fame but also in the executive committee of the IJF during the IJF Congress to promote judo around the globe.

Ki-Young Jeon (KOR) Korean Ki-Young Jeon was one of the best judoka of his country. He became Olympic Champion in Atlanta 1996. He was 1993 and 1997 World Champion and fought U78 and 86kg. Later he turned coach and raised a new skillful generation.

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Larisa Kiss

Interview with Larisa Kiss, Director of the IJF Presidential Office

Larisa Kiss of the IJF gathers together the members of her team to thank them for their hard work and then poses with the team for a picture

Q: What was it like working on the 2015 Astana World Championship? How was it different from the 2014 Chelyabinsk World Championships?

A: Astana was very successful like Chelyabinsk (last year). It was not easy but we had a good collaboration with the local team, which provided a lot of support. I think the main difference is that Chelyabinsk is a small city where the Judo World Championships was the only event happening at the time. In contrast, Astana is a capital city with many other events going on at the same time. There were also many pre-competition events going on in Astana such as the Congresses and the IJF Hall of Fame (second edition).

Q: What would you say was the biggest challenge you faced in this edition of the World Championships?

A: Managing so many different events within one big event. We had the meetings with the IJF commissions, the executive committee meeting, the Congress, the Hall of Fame, the draw, and of course, the competition itself. A lot of preparations involved.

Everybody is so tired now. But when things run smoothly and we can see the fruits of our labour, it makes it all worthwhile.

Q: Are you happy about the participation level this time around?

A: Yes, the participation was very good. There was such an array of nations that won medals, 23 in all. That’s a very good spread, which showcases the growing universality of our sport. It really gives me a good feeling knowing that we are successful in developing the sport worldwide. It’s worth mentioning that the IJF actually supported 54 countries to participate in this edition of the World Championships. These are countries that might otherwise not have been able to send competitors.

Q: What are the criteria for a country to ask for IJF support?

A: The athletes concerned have to be of a certain level. They must have participated in regional competitions and achieved some results. We also look at the economic situation of the country. But support can also be extended to athletes from an economically well-developed country where the judo is small and thus does not have much funding for international events.

Q: One of the athletes that the IJF supported, Ustopiriyon, did very well.

A: Yes, Komronshokh Ustopiriyon, a -90kg player from Tajikistan. We first met him in Astana during the previous Grand Prix.

He approached me through a translator and told me, “I’m a good judo player. I love judo. I want train more and participate in more competitions.” But his federation didn’t have the funds to send him for many overseas events. I took the request to the IJF President Marius Vizer and he approved support for this player for a few IJF world circuit competitions. We were delighted to see that he made it to the semi-finals in this year’s World Championships. It shows that our support really did help him raise his judo to world level.

135 Komronshokh Ustopiriyon of Tajikistan (white), who reached the u90kg semi-final, was supported by the IJF and finished in fifth places

Q: This year featured the Hall of Fame again (first held in 2013 at the Rio World Championships). Can you share with us what some of the criteria are for selecting inductees into the Hall of Fame?

A: The nominations come from executive committee members who look at various factors. Of course results matter but they do not just take into consideration results.

The contribution these past champions have made to the sport of judo, their continued involvement in the sport, and even their aura or charisma as a judo personality are all factors that contribute to their selection. It’s not just about results.

Q: Can you give an insight into how countries are chosen to host a World Championship?

A: It’s essentially a bidding process. Nations submit proposals. There is a series of financial and logistical requirements that they have to meet. They must have the means to host a global event but there must also already be enough interest in judo in the country. The next World Championship is still two years away but the team from Budapest has already been assisting us in everything we do and they have been taking notes, in preparation for their turn at hosting the event. We have to work together very closely. There are things we (the IJF) cannot do because we do not know the local authorities involved or we may not be familiar with the local language or customs. These are the kind of situations where the local team’s involvement is crucial. We work together to make sure everything is up to the standards expected. If there is something that is not at a desired level, we work on finding a solution together.

Q: How do you feel about the development of judo since Marius Vizer took over as IJF President?

A: It’s amazing just how much judo has blossomed. It went from a sport where World Championships were held every two years and where there were very few international competitions to one that is now the third best in terms of the number of global events.

Everything has increased whether in terms of media interest or the number of athletes participating or the number of fans who attend these events. And we are pushing judo out through all possible channels: through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even an e-book such as this. It’s all very encouraging but we want to do more. We definitely do not stop here. Mr Vizer is determined to show the world the beauty of judo. So we will explore more avenues to promote judo at all levels of society. That’s his vision. He has unlimited passion and love for judo and a deep respect for all the people who practice this sport.

Larisa Kiss of the IJF and her Kazakhstan team

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Neil Adams

Neil Adams MBE proudly shows off his recent MBE award from The Queen and his 1981 World gold medal while at the Budokwai Judo Club in Chelsea, London on the 30 April 1983.

IJF Live Commentator for TV:

Q: What do you think of the judo at the 2015 Astana World Championship?

A: I was surprised to see many top players getting defeated in the earlier rounds. Technically many of them were not fighting at their optimum but it has to be said that the Japanese and the South Korean teams were superb and many of their players threw with some wonderful techniques. I would have liked to have seen more transition into newaza but I feel this will take a little time to redevelop. The coaches need to train their players in transition and the referees should also recognize progressive newaza and give it more time.

Q: How do you feel your commentary has changed over the years?

A: I love the fact that judo is now so professional and I am proud to be able to commentate at all of these IJF events. Like the judo itself, my commentary has progressed from amateur status to professional. We are presenting these broadcast quality shows world-wide. I think we get better each time we do this and this can only be good for the sport.

Q: Who were the biggest stars at this year’s World Championship?

A: The Japanese and the South Koreans in general were exceptional but An Baul in the -66kg category was brilliant. Takanori Nagase in the -81kg category was outstanding too. Tina Trstenjak at -63kg absolutely tore the category apart with her raw but effective fighting style. And, of course there was Teddy Riner who won his 8th World title.

Q: What do you think of the Team Competitions?

A: The Team events are fantastic, from the standpoint of the atmosphere it creates and also for the development of the sport. It is a (judo) promoter’s dream come true. The excitement and the spirit it fosters is amazing. It is great for our sport. It’s also good for the athletes because some people perform better as part of a team because they know everything doesn’t just fall on them. So from a development perspective, it gives an opportunity for some players to compete with less pressure than they’d face in an individual competition. As a kid, I used team competitions as a supplement to my individual competitions but with less pressure on me to win all the time. So yes, I think team competitions are great.

Neil Adams, in fighting form after knee surgery, armlocks his opponent to finish fifth at the 1981 Debrecen European Championships. Six months later Adams won the Maastricht World Championships with juji-gatame

137 Neil Adams MBE, addresses the audience after receiving the Hall of Fame award during the 2013 Rio World Championships

Neil Adams praised An Baul of South Korea as ‘Brilliant’ in the u66kg category

Neil Adams MBE, relaxes for a moment while commentating for the television during the Astana World Judo Championships.

Q: Do you find judo today to be very different from the judo of your era?

A: I think that there is more depth now in each weight category which makes it harder to win. Although I would have liked to have had the chance to compete in more world circuit events like they have these days, I should say that it is not easy for players to peak at just the right time for big events like the World Championships when there are so many competitions for them to take part in throughout the year. I think this was evident in Astana when you saw some top players getting defeated in the early rounds.

Q: What are your views on the new IJF rules such as the banning of leg grabs and excessive grip-fighting?

A: I like many of the new rules because they encourage players to stand upright when they fight instead of crouching down. I also like how the gripping has to be positive as opposed to negative. We obviously want to avoid wrestling-style leg grabs but I personally miss seeing those big pick-ups that project upwards and result in great throws. But I do understand that if you allow leg grabbing in some instances it can result in interpretation issues. When is it a shido and when is it not? Thus the complete ban on leg grabs.

Q: What do you think of the IJF Hall of Fame of which you are an inductee?

A: I love the idea of the Hall of Fame and am honoured to be in it. There are some great champions that have yet to be inducted but I think the IJF will eventually get to them in future editions.

The ‘Voice of Judo’, Neil Adams MBE, commentates for the television during the 2015 Astana World Judo Championships

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Interview with

David McFall Q: Tell us exactly what you do as an IJF Web TV commentator?

A: I have been to four world championships (Tokyo, Rio, Chelyabinsk and Astana) where I served as co-commentator with Sheldon Franco Rooks. As commentators, we need to provide both the play-by-play and color commentary. We try our best to give insight based on our experiences watching judo and hopefully offer a little more as well. For my own part, I keep tabs on the Japanese judoka by going to the major Japanese domestic competitions and reading up on Japanese judoka in Japanese newspapers and magazines. I want to offer up information not readily available to our viewers. In terms of how we work together, for the preliminaries, Sheldon and I often alternate (with guests frequently joining us). For the final block, we comment together. I really enjoy the chemistry of working with Sheldon during the final block.

Q: What do you find hardest about that job? What’s most enjoyable?

A: Commentating for a full day can be a little exhausting. Fortunately, we get to see some great action most of the time, so it’s easy to commentate on. As the viewers know, I am not the best at pronouncing some of the names and more than occasionally I make a gaffe or two that even makes me cringe. Sheldon, on the other hand, gets the names perfect 99.9% of the time. The best part of our job, of course, is seeing these amazing judoka do extraordinary things and then meeting them face-to-face.

Q: What was the most obvious trend you spotted in Astana?

A: The most obvious trend was the large number of red back-patches (defending champions) who lost. Teddy Riner (FRA) was the only world champion to repeat from last year. And then there was the big medal haul by the Japanese team. However, both these trends may be the result of periodization by the other teams. Perhaps these athletes are training to peak in time for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Q: Biggest surprises?

A: I would say for the men, Ryonosuke Haga (JPN) winning at -100kg was a bit of a shocker. For the women, Mami Umeki (JPN) at -78kg was a dark horse for sure. The Polish women winning silver in the team competition was really remarkable Q: Most exciting match?

A: Toma Nikiforov (BEL) vs Cyrille Maret (FRA) in their -100kg bronze medal match. The final 30 seconds was captivating.

David McFall who does some of the live broadcasts during the 2015 Astana World Judo Team Championships

David McFall, who does some of the live IJF TV broadcasting with Sheldon Franco-Rooks

139 Teddy Riner of France dominated the heavyweights and was the only 2014 champion to retain his title

Dark horse’ Mami Umeki of Japan proudly shows her u78kg gold medal Ryunosuke Haga of Japan winning gold at u100kg ‘was a bit of a shocker’

Toma Nikiforov’s (right) defeat of Cyrille Maret in the final 30 seconds ‘was captivating

The Polish Women’s team remarkably defeated Algeria, Germany, and Russia to reach the final

140 Karen Briggs at the Budokwai Judo Club’s Kensington dojo

Karen Briggs

4-time World Champion and IJF Hall of Famer

Q: How did you feel attending the World Championship again?

A: The last time I was at a World Championship was in 1989 as a competitor. I really loved watching the Worlds as it brought back all the memories of being a competitor in such a prestigious event. I loved my life as a judo player. This is something I really miss.

Q: How has judo changed since your time as a competitor?

A: Judo has definitely changed in terms of the new techniques that have emerged but many of the popular techniques like uchimata and seoi-nage are still around today. I find the level of judo to be very good although I can’t really say for sure that there are more ippon scores today compared to in my time.

Q: Has women’s judo changed?

A: I can’t say that I saw a big change in women’s judo because even in my time, the lightweights especially were already outstanding.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could somehow see how past champions would fare against today’s top competitors?

Q: What do you think of the Hall of Fame?

A: The Hall of Fame is a brilliant idea. Judo players who are inducted are there for life and nobody can take that away from them. So it is really a lasting tribute. In some countries even great judo champions may not get the recognition they deserve just because judo is not so popular there so this is also a way to honour them for their success and contribution to judo.

Q: What does it mean to you to be inducted in the Hall of Fame?

A: Being included in the Hall of Fame is the top of anything I have been awarded. I have an honorary Doctorate from Hull University and an MBE from the Queen, but being a Hall of Famer is the pinnacle of my judo career. I feel there is nothing left for me to achieve in judo. What a wonderful judo career I’ve had.

Two legends; ‘pocket-sized fighting machine’ Karen Briggs MBE of Great Britain and Yasuhiro Yamashita of Japan after receiving their ‘Hall of Fame’ awards

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Karen Inman (nee Briggs) and her husband, Peter, take to the stand at the end of the dinner during the 2015 Astana Hall of Fame Gala Dinner

Karen Briggs GBR uses her favourite technique of tomoe-nage to score wazari on Od Erdenet MGL in the 48 kgs division at the Barcelona Olympics 1992

Hall of Fame awardees, left to right, Gella Vandecaveye (BEL), Maria Pekli (AUS), Karen Briggs (GBR) and Soraya Haddad (ALG)

Dr Karen Inman (nee Briggs) proudly stands beneath the giant picture of her holding one of her 4 World gold medals before being presented with the Hall of Fame framed certificate

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Haruki Uemura, leads the full Japanese Olympic team during the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Games, London, England, United Kingdom

Interview with

Haruki Uemura World and Olympic Champion IJF Hall of Famer Q: How do you view the competition at the 2015 Astana World Championship?

A: The competition was very high level. The participation was also impressive. We had 729 athletes from 120 countries and regions competing in this championship, and athletes from 20 countries won medals. Champions from last year were all defeated except for France’s Teddy Riner. This shows that world judo is getting better and better.

Q: What do you think of the Team Competition? Do you think it should be included in the Olympics?

A: The judo team competition is becoming very popular. The IJF organizes team competitions at the Cadet, Junior and Senior Championship level. I think we should introduce a Team Competition in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Q: Do you attend every World Championships?

A: I participated in the 1973 Lausanne World Championship and the 1975 Vienna World Championship. After I retired from competition, I attended every World Championship as an observer.

Haruki Uemura at the 2009 Paris Junior World Championships

143 Haruki Uemura of Japan (right) defeated Klaus Glahn of West Germany on his way to the Openweight final during the 1973 Lausanne World Judo Championships

Haruki Uremura of Japan (left) counters Jean-Pierre Tripet of France to win their contest as he progressed to the gold medal during the 9th Men’s World Judo Championships at the Vienna Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria between the 23rd & 25th October 1975.

Q: Do you consider judo today to be very different from the judo of your era?

A: There was a period of time when judo was ridiculed as “jacket wrestling” because of the excessive leg grabbing. I feel that new IJF Contest Rules have restored judo to its original form, where players take a hold of each other and try to throw. In recent years, judo has been improving in every aspect, from the rules to the world ranking system to the organization of the IJF World Circuit competitions to the sponsorship contracts. The list could go on. Judo has improved by leaps and bounds.

Q: What is your opinion about the creation of the IJF Hall of Fame and how does it feel to be a member?

A: The Hall of Fame is important for the promotion and diffusion of judo. It allows us to honor the judokas who have achieved a lot in judo. It is my great honor to be inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame and it spurs me to help popularize judo to the next generation.

In a repeat of the 1973 World heavyweight final Haruki Uemura fought Kazuhiro Ninomiya for the gold medal and this time won at the 1975 Vienna Worlds. A year later at the Montreal Olympics Uemura again defeated Ninomiya for the gold medal

144 Press Interviews during the 2015 Astana World Judo Championships

Shen Yeoh proudly standing next to the Astana logo on her first day in Kazakhstan

Covering my First World Championships

By Shen Yeoh

I’ve watched countless videos of the World Championships on my computer screen over the past few years. But this year, it was different. I had the chance to attend the World Championship in person. Not as a competitor or spectator, but as a journalist-cum-photographer. I earned that opportunity by agreeing to help my father with reporting work and David Finch with peripheral photography work.

My journalistic duty mainly comprised of keeping track of the fights assigned to me by my father and taking note of the progress of each pool winner. As there were only two of us, I sometimes had to watch two mats at once. It was quite a challenge on my first day but it wasn’t long before I got the hang of things. I was nonetheless exhausted by the end of each day. It does take quite some effort to meticulously note down what goes on match after match.

David assigned me to shoot some peripheral pictures so he could stay focused on shooting the matches. So, I shot the interiors of the TV broadcast van. This was the first time I had the opportunity to look inside such a vehicle. Even this made me feel goose bumps. It was fascinating seeing so many screens covering every conceivable angle of the judo mats. I also took some shots of the arena and general shots of the audience. It was really exciting for me to explore the venue by myself with the official IJF and Press lanyards hanging on my neck.

Occasionally, I followed David mat-side to take some contest shots when there were a few important fights going on simultaneously on different mats. The first time I stepped foot mat side was very nerve wrecking. Although I was wearing the official IJF journalist vest and had one of David’s professional cameras in my hands, I felt out of my league amongst the swarm of seasoned photographers camping mat-side. I found it hard to believe that I was in such company.

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Japanese television interviews double World champion Shohei Ono after the u73kg medal ceremony

Jack Willingham of Fighting Films interviews Olympic and double World champion, Kaori Matsumoto of Japan after the u57kg medal ceremony

Under 48kg bronze medallist, Do-Kyeong Jeong of Korea stands between her Olympic champion coach, Won-Hee Lee of Korea, and Shen Yeoh after the medal ceremony

Eight times World champion, Teddy Riner (France) being interviewed live for French Television after the heavyweight medal ceremony

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My father had always talked to me about judo players from many generations and various countries ever since I can remember.

Naturally, throughout the years, I developed an admiration for a few champions. The fact that I was in the same building as my heroes felt unreal to me.

One of the most exciting experiences was when I shot the team events and the awards ceremony afterwards. It was then that I got to meet and take some pictures with my judo heroes. At times, I must have seemed more like a fan than a photographer. But it’s not every day you get a chance to take a picture with former world champion Avdantili Tchrikishvili of Georgia.

World Champion and IJF TV commentator Neil Adams was also kind enough to invite me to his broadcast booth to watch him comment live. It was also a surreal experience having been taught the Adams’ juji-gatame from my father. I couldn’t help but stare in awe as I watched him commentate in person after all these years of listening to his voiceover in various IJF Highlight videos. Similarly, it was a thrill to have met four-times World Champion Karen Briggs.

Shen Yeoh proudly poses with 4 times World champion Karen Inman (nee Briggs)

Shen Yeoh gives the ‘thumbs up’ while standing next to former world champion Avtandili Tchrikishvili of Georgia after the Georgian team won the team bronze

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Television Coverage is growing The interior screens showing some of the camera positions at the Alau Ice Palace competition

One of the 5 giant Russian television trucks outside the Alau Ice Palace competition venue

Mr. Marius Vizer, the IJF President “We are delighted that BT Sport has become our British broadcast partner for the World Championships of Judo. BT Sport has shown a remarkable liveliness and vigour in its promotion of sports since it came on the scene, and in many ways this matches Judo’s own ambitions to be fully recognised as a premier brand around the world. This has been achieved in many countries including Britain’s neighbour, France. But - despite judo’s proud history in the Olympic Games and its popularity with many generations of young people judo has received too little television coverage in recent years in Britain. We are sure this is the start of a major swing towards judo being recognised in British households as a gripping and very exciting television sport for young and not-so-young alike.”

“From our point of view, the timing could not be better. BT Sport is launching its exclusive live coverage of the UEFA Champions League in mid-September, and the first four half-hour judo highlights programmes will launch the very next week at peak viewing times. Perfect.”

Gibran Khan, here talking to Jack Willingham of Fighting Films, is responsible for Satellite and Broadcasting television at the IJF The interior of one of the 5 giant Russian television trucks outside the Alau Ice Palace competition venue

The IJF has gone through a tremendous evolution over the past years and judo is more and more available on TV and on internet. The IJF is delighted to count on board new TV partners for the World Championships and the World Judo Tour: KBS Sport (Korea), CCTV5 (China), DD Sport (India), NTV Plus (Russia), IRIB (Iran), BOETS TV (Russia, Baltic countries, Republics), TRT (Turkey) and Armenian TV, along with new presence in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Butan, Nepal, North Korea and Sri Lanka.

Existing TV partners inclube: BeIn Sport - AlJazeera Sport - Fuji TV - J Sports - Esporte Interativo - Euronews - Eurovision - C1 TV station - DIGI Sport Romania - Fox Sports Africa - Setanta - Sport 1 - RTV Slovenia - Sport5 The Fight Network - AZTV - Georgian Public Broadcaster - Sport TV - NOS - National TV and Radio Company of Uzbekistan - VRT - RTBF SPTV - TVE - Kaz Sport - ZDF - Cuban TV-ICRT - Fight Klub - ORF - Ceska TV- TyC Sports - RAI.

148 Marijana Miskovic of Croatia (blue) lost her u63kg contest by a yuko (5 points) to double World champion, Yoshie Ueno of Japan who finshed the day with the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics

Marijana Miskovic throws Da-Woon Joung of Korea for an ippon with a foot sweep to win their u63kg contest at the 2011 Paris Grand Slam

Olympic motherhood: Marijana Miskovic Marijana Miskovic resists an attack winning the contest by a wazari at the 2015 Astana World Championships

Marijana Miskovic struggles with Ahrens of Germany during the 2012 Dusseldorf Grand Prix

She is an athlete, she is an Olympian, she is an employee, she is someone’s wife and she is also a mother. Croatian judoka, and mother of two little boys (Noe, 6, and David, 1), Marijana Miskovic is one of the very few unique individuals who juggles so many roles.

There are not many scholars regarding the topic of pregnancy and high performance or on the impact of motherhood on an athlete. However, many athletes who fall pregnant are unsure on whether they will be able to bounce back to the top.

For example, Grete Waitz, the Norwegian running legend, said in her biography: “I do not feel competent enough to being a mother right now. My life, with all the traveling, is not appropriate for a mother. And I don’t feel any maternal instinct. Some people say that I will change my opinion when I get a baby, but I will not experiment with my own feelings. If I decide to get pregnant it will be a carefully thought-out decision. Life consists of compromises. I think it is impossible to work, pursue a sports career and be a mother at the same time. I only manage do to one of these things. If it was enough training one session per day to be a top athlete I might be able to do two of these three things, but to be top of the world, two training sessions per day is necessary and then it is hard to do something else. ”During our interview, Miskovic perfectly highlighted the following: “I believe and I am sure it is possible to do it all over again after giving birth. One of my biggest ambitions is to show people that heading back to your sporting career after birth is the same for us like for a doctor or any other professionals heading back to their work. Being an elite athlete is our profession, so for us it is perfectly normal to return to our professions after giving birth.

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“Mentally there is a big difference though. Now, when I lose a fight I am not mentally shattered as much as I used to be because I know someone special is waiting for me at home. Before the kids I would be thinking about the loss for months and would be analyzing why I lost and what I did wrong. Now it is different.

When I go to a tournament I lean on my family. They are my biggest strength. I am going out to every single contest like it is my last one and if I don’t win, no problem because my medals are waiting for me at home, they are my children and my family.”

It wasn’t easy for Miskovic after her defeat in the London 2012 Olympics but she has her sights on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. “Some would say I am too old for another round [Olympic cycle] but in fact this is not about the age, it is all about the mind. I want to show everybody that everything is possible. I motivate myself by proving to people, whilst teaching my children the same lesson, that if you really want something you must go for it and do it. If I don’t go to the next Olympic Games it will not be a setback because I know I have given it my all. Of course, I will be a little sad but in the end I tried my best.”

As a wife and a mother, Miskovic is no longer just fighting for herself but for her family as well. “My husband, Mirza, plays a crucial part in my career. He is from Bosnia and he also used to be a judoka. He has already sacrificed for me by leaving his country and moving to Croatia. It wasn’t easy for him, he stopped judo and when he came here he had to find a job and deal with an unfamiliar situation. When I am training, I am not only training for myself but for him and for my family. I am living a dream for both of us and for the family. I speak with him about this a lot and he is really supportive. My older child, Noe, also has a good understanding of the situation and he wants me to come back with medal all the time. The last time I lost in a tournament, Noe was crying because he felt gutted on my behalf! Luckily, I am able to speak to him like I would to an adult. This kind of situations allows me to teach my children real life skills. It allows me to show my children that in life, it is important to pursue your dreams and that everything is possible if you give it all. My boys are learning life lessons by watching my judo career.

“It is difficult balancing all these roles of course, and my days are pretty modest, I sleep like 4-5 hours a day. In the morning I take the older one to nursery and the younger one goes with me to the gym. After that, we go home and I complete my house duties (cooking, cleaning, etc) and shortly after that we head out to pick up my older boy. Following that, I will wait for my husband to return home so that I can go for training in the evening. Of course it is not easy but I love it. At the end of the day it is my choice and I wouldn’t want it in any other way.”

Marijana Miskovic placed a creditable 7th place in the 2015 Astana World Judo Championships.

Interview by Szandra Szogedi Family pictures by © Željana Matosic

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2017 Budapest World Judo Championships Article by Szandra Szogedi About a year after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, Hungary will be ready to welcome the judo world to its capital, Budapest, for yet another edition of the World Judo Championships.

The László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, the biggest multi-purpose indoor stadium, which can house 12,500 people will be where the judo competition be held. It’s an arena that’s been well-tested for judo, having been the venue for the highly well-received Senior European Judo Championships in 2013.

Although Hungary has hosted international judo competitions as far back as in 1963 when it organized its first World Cup (today, such a competition would be called a European Open), it was only in recent years that really major international judo tournaments were held here, namely the 2013 Budapest Europeans’ and the 2014 and 2015 editions of the Budapest Grand Prix.

Meet the organizing committee for the 2017 Budapest World Judo Championships: Simon Csaba, Director of the Organizing Committee “It was great to be able to attend at the World Judo Championships in Astana. It allowed us to have first-hand experience in seeing what areas need further improvement and to make positive note of these things. I believe our great strength is our hospitality. Many judoka who have come here want to return. We are aiming to make this event to be one of the most memorable for all.”

Laszlo Toth, President of the Hungarian Judo Association.

“I am delighted to see the many years of hard work paying off with Hungary being given the opportunity to host the 2017 World Judo Championships. Years ago this would have been a bridge way too far for us. Not until 2013, the year we hosted the Senior European Championships, did we realize that we were capable of more. Following a very successful Europeans, we earned the trust of the ministry of sports, which then allowed us to be part of the IJF World circuit by hosting one of the Grand Prix series each year. Over the years, we have hosted Cadet, Junior and even Veteran World Championships. The Senior World Championships is the only missing piece for us. Hosting the Worlds in Budapest is also important because after the 2016 Olympic Games, it will be a great way for some of our long-standing athletes to end their career with a high, competing for a World title on home soil.

Trivia By hosting the 2017 World Judo Championships, Hungary will become the only country ever to host the European Championships and World Championships amongst all age group.

-Cadet European Championships – Miskolc (1978, 2006), Gyor (2002) -Junior European Championships – Budapest (1978, 2001) -Senior European Championships – Budapest (2013) -Veterans European Championships – Balatonfured (2015) -Cadet World Championships – Budapest (2009) -Junior World Championships – Budapest (2004) -Senior World Championships – Budapest (2017) -Veterans World Championships – Budapest (2010 Laszlo Toth interviewed by Szandra Szogedi for her article on the 2017 Budapest World Championships

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After receiving the IJF flag from President Marius Vizer, Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov passes the flag to Dr Laszlo Toth, President of the Hungarian Judo Association

Led by the EJU’s announcer, Luis Torres, the models blow kisses to the photographers as the competition comes to an end at the Budapest European Championships

2013 Budapest European Championships - April 25-28

The 2017 Budapest World Championships delegation led by Laszlo Toth, the Hungarian Judo Federation President (3rd from right) with Tamas Zahonyi to his right and European champion, Daniel Hadfi (far right)

152 IJF President, Marius Vizer about to pass the IJF flag to the city of Budapest who will host the 2017 Worlds

Larisa Kiss at the IJF’s Budapest Offices

Acknowledgements This book arrives at the conclusion of three consecutive World Judo Championships in one Olympiad. It is the second time in the history of Judo that this has ever happened.

While some initially thought that a World Championships each year would devalue judo it has in fact enhanced and increased its following across the world.

Television now forms a critical part of that development taking judo to a wider audience with giant TV trucks, cameras in every corner and scores of staff pumping live content around the world as can be seen in the TV pictures.

This can only complement an Olympic combat sport thought to have the second highest number of participants in the world behind that of soccer.

The book celebrates and records the Astana World Judo Championships and is the third book about a World Championships in as many years.

It would not be possible for this book to be read freely by thousands of people without the support of the International Judo Federation, its president, Marius Vizer and its Presidential Office Director, Larisa Kiss whose help has been enormous. Thank you on behalf of the team and the readers.

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Oon Yeoh of JudoCrazy.com, a former competitor at two World Championships for Malaysia, has been an integral part of the team from the first 2013 Rio book producing excellent and clear reports on the contests.

Oon, who is a writer, author and media consultant, is now the chief coach at the Kuala Lumpur Judo Club, a club that he founded and can be seen at Kljudo.com.

Oon’s daughter, Shen Yeoh, has also helped with the reports and the photography taking pictures for the book in and outside the competition area. Her article clearly reports her joy at the tasks she undertook and the ‘goose bumps’ she felt.

Oon Yeoh and his daughter, Shenshen Yeoh at their Kuala Lumpur Judo Club in Malaysia

David Finch (centre) teaching judo at Durham Hill school in Southeast London during the late seventies.

154 Szandra Szogedi of Ghana (white) resists an attack from Marijana Miskovic of Croatia in their u63kg contest during the 2015 Astana World Judo Championships

Hans van Essen of Holland

Again, considerable thanks must go to Hans Van Essen for his analysis and statistics of the competition. His website, JudoInside.com, is the world’s premier site for information, statistics and judo news.

Szandra Szogedi, a bronze medallist at the 2015 African Championships, was again competing at the World Championships and has written a compelling article about “Olympic Motherhood”. It is about the life of Marijana Miskovic of Croatia who she was actually drawn against at the Astana Worlds and makes interesting reading.

Finally, and not least, our thanks go Paul Sheals of Rocketfishdigital.co.uk who produced all three books. Paul, who was the 1986 Commonwealth Games Judo champion, specialises in online Search Engine Optimisation. His company’s clients include Vodafone, British Airways, Hilton Hotels and many other large organisations and government departments.

David Finch Editor and photographer at Judophotos.com and Getty Images

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Paul Sheals (left) fighting the Olympic champion Frank Weineke at the 1987 Paris Europeans