A real show needed in order to blow the cream
The -63 kg category has been pretty straight forward in recent years with the mixture of Olympic Champion, Tina TRSTENJAK (SLO); Olympic Silver medallist, Clarisse AGBEGNENOU (FRA); European Games Winner, Martyna TRAJDOS (GER) and double European medallist, Kathrin UNTERWURZACHER (AUT) on the podium. The latter will not be competing next week in Tel-Aviv. In addition, around a handful of names could be focused on, such as, multiply IJF World Tour medallist and U23 European Champion, Juul FRANSSEN (NED); 21-year-old Dusseldorf Grand Prix winner, Andreja LESKI (SLO); European Bronze medallist, Ekaterina VALKOVA (RUS) and World Bronze medallist, four-time European bronze medallist, Alice SCHLESINGER (GBR). 2017 World Bronze medallist, Agata OZDOBA-BLACH (POL) will need to be on another form of her life to be able to blend on the podium. For Israel, Inbal SHEMESH and Gili SHARIR will be on stage.
Second and Third, yet solid choices
Top seed amongst the 32 athletes in the -81 kg category is Paris Grand Slam winner, Frank DE WIT (NED), who is currently WRL #3. The uniqueness of this athlete is that he delivered under much tougher circumstances than the Europeans, however, he has not yet peaked at the Continental Champions. Not yet. With the Dutch fighter, it is not the question of having the ability for it or not; it is simply about his form on the day. So, let’s see how it goes for him next week. Putting forward 2017 European Bronze medallist, Aslan LAPPINAGOV (RUS) WRL #5 was Russia’s 3rd, but still solid choice. He is behind both, Olympic Champion, Khasan KHALMURZAEV and 2017 European Champion, Alan KHUBETSOV on the World Ranking. European Bronze medallist, robust judoka, Ivaylo IVANOV (BUL) is in the mix with Triple European medallist, Nugzari TATALASHVILI (GEO). The latter has been selected over European Bronze medallist, Zebeda REKHVIASHVILI, who is amongst the top 12 on the World Ranking List. Dominik DRUZETA (CRO) marked his name in this weight division by winning bronze at the Europeans last year. European Games Winner, Sagi MUKI (ISR) is definitely one of the favourites to win this weight category, and with the home nation backing him throughout the day, it will be glorious to compete. To conclude the list of names for speculation, we must note first year Senior, Tbilisi Grand Prix Silver medallist and full of ambitions, Anri EGUTIDZE (POR). Quite similar can be said for U23 European Champion, Dorin GOTONOAGA (MDA) and 2017 Junior World Champion, Matthias CASSE (BEL).
I GUESS…
2017 World Champion, Alexander WIECZERZAK gave his ideas on whom we could expect on the top of the podium and who could deliver the unexpected in the -81 kg category?
