It was a strong start for Europe on day one of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2024. Though numbers may not have reflected the level of the competition, the names in the final did.
The hosts, United Arab Emirates celebrated a medal on day one, a tremendous gold medal claim for Khorloodoi BISHRELT in the -52kg category, defeating LKHAGVASUREN.
The men of the -60kg final; Cedric REVOL (FRA) and Iznaur SAAEV (IJF), gave a heart wrenching performance, the swiftness of the lightweight men’s category is always exiting. For this pair however, the energy was equalled and so they found themselves at a stalemate. It was just under 30 seconds in to golden score when Saaev found his answer. Revol attempted a seoi nage, allowing his opponent to throw with tani otoshi. Saaev has sporadic results, however this year he took his first Grand Slam medal, a bronze in Dushanbe, and can now celebrate his first IJF World Tour win.
In the -48kg category, Andrea STOJADINOV (SRB) was back in business, taking on Sabina GILIAZOVA (IJF). Both athletes have claimed one Grand Slam gold prior to this event, coincidentally, both in Tashkent, 2023 and 2024 respectively. The gold in Abu Dhabi wasn’t decided until the last 15 seconds, when Giliazova executed a waza-ari scoring sumi gaeshi, transitioning in to ne waza, not allowing any time for Stojadinov to make a comeback.
Again in the next men’s category of -66kg, we had a French contender Daikii BOUBA (FRA). It was Bouba who put the first score on the board against Murad CHOPONOV (IJF) with hiza guruma after just over a minute. Clearly the wake up call that Choponov needed as he then went on the hunt. After closing the gap between himself and Bouba, he looked to feel safe. Perhaps to cut the tension, Bouba again looked to attack with ashi waza but it was anticipated this time, and Choponov evened the score with ko soto gake. In the next exchange, Choponov ended the contest with yet more ashi waza, but an o uchi gari this time.
Seija BALLHAUS (GER) stormed the -57kg, and carried her seeding right the way to the final against Irina ZUEVA (IJF). The pair fought prior in the Dushanbe Grand Slam where the latter was victorious, based on shido accumulation by Ballhaus. It looked to be going in a similar fashion as both athletes ceded two shidos, but it was a sode tsurikomi goshi which Ballhaus committed to heavily that brought about the initial score. The German athlete immediately transitioned in to the osaekomi for her first ever gold medal on the IJF World Judo Tour.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen