Gold for Israel’s Sasson crowns memorable first IJF Grand Prix in Tel Aviv

Rio 2016 medallist Sasson landed gold in the +100kg division to cap a dominant display by the host nation who topped the medal table after a fascinating weekend of action.

Israel won four gold medals, two silver and one bronze to mark the historic season opener finishing ahead of Italy – with two gold, three silver, one bronze – and France who secured two gold medals and one bronze.

Israel’s first experience of hosting an IJF World Judo Tour event was unanimously regarded as an overwhelming success and underlined the power of Israeli judo and the national governing body’s incredible capacity to deliver a world-class sporting masterpiece. The contract to stage the competition was only signed less than three months ago but the IJF’s first event in Israel has been long anticipated and the Shlomo Arena was filled to capacity on all three days.

Olympic bronze medallist Sasson had the crowd on their feet after claiming victory in the last final of the competition.
He defeated The Hague Grand Prix winner Yakiv Khammon of Ukraine in golden score to win Israel’s fourth Grand Prix gold medal and to make sure his country finished top of the medal table.

In the -100kg category, France’s Alexandre Iddir won his second Grand Prix gold medal as he beat Ireland’s Benjamin Fletcher.
The Tashkent Grand Prix silver medallist scored a waza-ari from te-waza and firmly protected his advantage to provide France with their second gold medal in Tel Aviv.

France’s first gold came in the -90kg final thanks to Axel Clerget defeating Italy’s Nicholas Mungai.
The World Championships bronze medallist clinched his second Grand Prix title as he defeated Mungai, a bronze medal winner at the Ekaterinburg Grand Slam, by submitting his rival with a ude-garami.

In the women’s competitions on the final day, Iryna Kindzerska earned kg division. Azerbaijan’s first gold medal in Israel with victory over Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Kalanina in the +78kg division, trapping her younger rival in osaekomi for 20 seconds and ippon to win.

Slovenia’s Klara Apotekar defeated Tashkent Grand Prix winner Loriana Kuka of Kosovo in the -78kg final, throwing her rival in added time with a sumi-gaeshi for a match-winning waza-ari score.

Review of Day 1 and 2

The opening day of competition in Tel Aviv saw Israel win gold medals in two of the three women’s categories.

Shira Rishony gave the hosts a dream start for their inaugural Grand Prix by defeating The Hague Grand Prix winner Maryna Cherniak of Ukraine in the -48kg category. Rishony won her second Grand Prix title and first since 2013 by throwing after 24 seconds with an o-soto-gari for a waza-ari score.

Timna Nelson Levy made it a double for the hosts after defeating former Junior World Championships bronze medallist Daria Mezhetskaia of Russia in the -57kg competition; the Israeli scoring a waza-ari with 50 seconds left to seal the victory.

Rio 2016 Olympic champion and two-time world champion Majlinda Kelmendi took just 36 seconds to win her 10th Grand Prix gold medal in the -52kg catgeory, throwing the hosts nation’s former Grand Slam winner Gili Cohen twice scoring a waza-ari each time.

In the men’s competitions, Belgium’s Jorre Verstraeten earned a first IJF gold in the -60kg division beating Cancun Grand Prix gold medallist Tornike Tsjakadoea of The Netherlands in golden score. An exciting affair failed to produce a winner in regulation time but it was the Belgian who took gold after his Dutch opponent picked up his third penalty for going out of the area in added time.

The -66kg Final was a battle between two first-time IJF finalists and it was Junior World Championships gold medallist Manuel Lombardo of Italy who stepped up to earn gold. In a surprise final, the Italian threw his opponent Bogdan Iadov of Ukraine with a modified kata-guruma for a waza-ari score with 19 seconds left on the clock to take the title.

Day 2

Italy’s Maria Centracchio won her first IJF World Judo Tour gold medal in the first final on day two in Tel Aviv, her success in the -63kg category coming at the expense of the hosts nation’s Inbal Shemesh.

Having opened her IJF World Judo Tour medal account with a silver in Uzbekistan in November, Centracchio imposed herself throughout the contest, which went to golden score to produce a winner which came when the home judoka was caught with a neat sumi-gaeshi for a match-winning waza-ari score.

Sweden’s Anna Bernholm won her first Grand Prix title with a shrewd performance against Junior World Championships gold medallist Alice Bellandi of Italy. The experience of the Swede told as she blocked and countered to win by ippon in just 38 seconds.

In the men’s competitions on day one, there was a surprise in the -73kg Final as world number 47 Vadzim Shoka of Belarus won his first IJF gold medal.
The rank outsider beat former Junior World Championships gold medallist Giovanni Esposito of Italy with a late flurry in the last 30 seconds of their contest, breaking the deadlock with an o-soto-gari and holding on for a brilliant win.

Israel’s Sagi Muki produced the throw of the day and possibly the tournament on his way to a gold medal in the -81kg category.
The European champion took just 56 seconds to take the title as he catapulted his unsuspecting opponent Ivaylo Ivanoov of Bulgaria through the air with a textbook sode-tsurikomi-goshi.

The next IJF event to look forward to is the Paris Grand Slam 2019 in France from 9 to 10 February.