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What was sure to be a tremendous final in the -73kg category between Karen GALSTIAN (IJF) and Danil LAVRENTEV (IJF) did not come to pass as Lavrentev was unable to fight for the gold medal on day two of the OTP Group Tashkent Grand Slam 2025, and so for a second consecutive year was forced to settle for silver. It was a swift road to gold after Galstian defeated his semi final opponent, Muhiddin ASADULLOEV (TJK) in only 11 seconds with tsuri goshi. There was huge appreciation for the eventual winner of the -73kg and all winners, the crowd in Tashkent always proves to be a lively one who love the sport.
Maxime GOBERT (FRA) on the other hand really struggled against Asadulloev, clearly feeling the potential danger. The pair went on to battle in golden score before Gobert attempted an uchi mata but switched direction to score yuko with a very low o uchi gari, securing the bronze medal, his second at a Grand Slam this year.
In the -63kg category, it was Inbal SHEMESH (ISR) who scored highest for the European Union, taking the silver medal. Despite a final loss to YAMAGUCHI Kirari (JPN), Shemesh had a successful day and was happy to claim her first medal in the new cycle. For bronze, it was Iva OBERAN (CRO) who was clearly the dominant athlete in her head to head with Ketleyn QUADROS (BRA), scoring a huge waza ari in the opening minutes and as both picked up two shidos, the pressure was on. Oberan was relentless in her attacking however and eventually scored waza ari again with osoto makikomi.
Last of the women to pick up a medal for the European delegation was Giovanna SCOCCIMARRO (GER) in the -70kg category. Scoccimarro was an ashi waza sensation in her bronze medal contest against YUAN Huiting (CHN), scoring waza ari first with o uchi gari, following up with a yuko-scoring o soto gari, and just as they were about to breach the final minute, o uchi gari once again scored the contest winning waza ari. It has been a tough road to recovery for the German athlete but her performance today was extremely encouraging.
Galstian wasn’t the only one who managed to secure gold on day two, Timur ARBUZOV (IJF) was a class of his own in the -81kg category, and made his gold medal win look effortless, though we know that simply isn’t the case against his strong opponents. The top seed defeated Tokyo Grand Slam winner, FUJIWARA Sotaro (JPN) with a deep drop seoi nage in the semi final to face host representative, Arslonbek TOJIEV (UZB) in the final. It was a first exchange win, however the win took a minute to come by. Tojiev attempted sutemi waza but lacked the movement, and so Arbuzov followed him down to commit to ne waza and worked meticulously before getting the submission in shime waza.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen