Medals shared among the nations at IJF Grand Prix in The Hague and Tashkent

Three days of world-class judo ended with Serbia, Israel and Belarus adding their names to the list of winners as the second edition of the Hague Grand Prix saw 14 gold medals go to 12 different countries. Russia and Ukraine were the only countries to win more than one title whilst Cameroon won their first IJF World Judo Tour medal.

That came on the final day of competition as Hortence Vanessa Mballa Atangana took silver in the women’s heavyweight final. Gold went to Maryna Slutskaya of Belarus who bettered her bronze medal performance at the previous weekend’s Tashkent Grand Prix.

For African Championships bronze medallist Atangana, she fought her way through the preliminary rounds producing remarkable wins over China’s Yanan Yiang, world number two Larisa Ceric and Anne Fatoumata Bairo of France. However the Final proved a step too far as she was penalised three times and then disqualified in the Final as Slutskaya topped an IJF Grand Prix medal podium for the third time. Nevertheless the efforts of Atangana ensured Cameroon were among the medal winners and made history for the African nation.

Elsewhere in the women’s competitions, Russia’s Antonina Shmeleva won her maiden IJF title in the -78kg event beating France’s Sama Hawa Camara whose wait for an elusive gold medal continues. Great Britain’s Sally Conway won her third Grand Prix gold medal after home favourite Sanne Van Dijke could not participate in the -70kg final after picking up an injury earlier in the competition.

Junxia Yang of China gave d her country their first gold medal in The Hague after the hosts of the upcoming World Judo Masters had earned two silver medals on day one. The former World Judo Masters bronze medallist beat another British judoka, Alice Schlesinger, in the -63kg competition to win won her third Grand Prix title and her first outside of Asia.

IJF World Judo Tour debutant Terumi Otsuji starred for Japan with a win over 2016 Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist Tongjuan Lu of China in the -57kg final, whilst Belgium’s Charline Van Snick won her eighth Grand Prix gold medal with a clinical performance against Brazil’s Eleudis Valentim in the -52kg section.

European Championships bronze medallist Maryna Cherniak of Ukraine won her second Grand Prix title with victory over China’s Yao Xiong in the -48kg final. Xiong, who finished fifth at the Asian Games and seventh at the Tokyo Grand Slam last year, had opened the scoring however the Ukrainian defeated her fellow finalist by ippon after 90 seconds.

The men’s competitions in The Hague were equally as intriguing with honours spread across several nations.

Ukraine’s Yakiv Khammo clinched the men’s heavyweight +100kg category as he defeated world number 39 Vladut Simionescu of Romania; the former World Championships bronze medallist winning his third Grand Prix title and his first IJF gold since the Baku Grand Slam in 2016.
Israel’s Peter Paltchik took the -100kg gold to win back-to-back IJF titles and extend his winning run to nine consecutive contests on the IJF World Judo Tour. His opponent was world number 36 Mikita Sviryd of Belarus who claimed his first IJF medal despite going over after 89 seconds of golden score.

Serbia’s Aleksandar Kukolj defeated world champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili of Spain in the -90kg category as the highly anticipated Final more than lived up to its expectations. Kukolj, the Ekaterinburg Grand Slam winner, needed only 39 seconds to defeat the owner of the red backpatch by ippon

Bulgaria’s Ivaylo Ivanov reinvigorated his career with gold as he left home hero and two-time Grand Slam winner Frank De Wit in tears. Ivanov, the former Abu Dhabi Grand Slam winner, returned to an IJF medal podium for the first time in 18 months with a come-from-behind win over world number two De Wit who was fighting in a Grand Prix final in front of his home fans for the first time.

Russia’s Musa Mogushkov beat Kosovo’s Akil Gjakova for the first time to win his third Grand Prix title in the -73kg final. Gjakova had beaten Mogushkov in the semi-finals at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam two weeks ago but the latter avenged that result after three and a half minutes of golden score.

Georgia’s Vazha Margvelashvili clinched his fourth Grand Prix title with a hard-fought win over Israel’s Baruch Shmailov, the world number two defeated the world number five by a waza-ari score. Mongolian maestro Amartuvshin Dashdavaa won his sixth Grand Prix title and seventeenth Grand Prix medal after beating 2016 Budapest Grand Prix winner AOKI Dai Aoki of Japan in -60kg competition; the medal putting him joint third on the all-time list with Great Britain’s Natalie Powell.

The Grand Prix in The Hague came hot on the heels of the Tashkent Grand Prix in Uzbekistan.

Held from 9 to 11 November, the sixth Grand Prix of its history also had its fair share of drama and great performances.

After having eliminating top seed athlete Tommy Macias, Azerbaijan’s Iryna Kindzerska won the women’s +78kg event by beating Germany’s Carolin Wess, whilst Kosovo’s Loriana KUKA beat Austrian Bernadette Graf in the -78kg Final.

There was home success for Khikmatillokh Turaev who took gold in the -73kg section by also beating a German competitor in the shape of Igor Wandtke, whilst two former junior world medallists came together in the -70kg Final. Germany’s Giovanna Scoccimarro faced Austria’s Michaela Polleres and it was the former who prevailed to earn a second gold at a Grand Prix event.

The -63kg event was dominated by Mongolia’s Mungunchimeg Baldorj, who achieved her best performance of the season when beating Italy’s Maria Centracchio in the Final.

In the men’s events in Tashkent, Russian Soslan Bostanov dominated the +100kg division, beating the host’s hopeful Bekmurod Oltiboev in the Final.

Current Olympic Silver medallist and top seed Elmar Gasimov won the -100kg division with victory over France’s Alexandre Iddir, whilst Mammadali Mehdiyev made it a double for Azerbaijan albeit by default after top seed Krisztian Toth of Hungary was unable to compete in the Final due to injury.

Kazakhstan’s Didar Khamza took gold in the -81kg event beating Mongolia’s Dagvasuren Nyamsuren in their Final clash.