A bye and 4 wins after his day began and the Frenchman could breathe a sigh of relief. He reached the final, having summoned all his resilience and grit to do so. In his last contest he would face Dilshot Khalmatov (UKR), a 6-time World Judo Tour medallist and one of the biggest throwers on this first day of competition in Upper Austria.
It was a close affair to begin with, neither opening up enough to make a mark. As the last minute approached, the frenchman attacked with a very low tai-otoshi and scored a yuko, pushing Khalmatov to come forward more. As he did Valadier Picard threw again, a seoi-otoshi for waza-ari.
At this point, the French world medallist should have been safe but he made an almost catastrophic mistake, standing up after a failed attacked, right into the arms of Dilshot Khalmatov who managed to grapple his way to a yuko; it could have been a lot worse for Valadier Picard in that moment. However, he held his nerve and the leading score, taking him to the top of the podium.
Each of the bronze medal contests was a derby for their respective country. Kazakhstan’s Aman Bakytzhan and Sherzod Davlatov fought for the first bronze medal. The contest did not last long, just over a minute. A well-drilled, tight turnover from Davlatov received the ‘osaekomi’ call from the referee that signalled the end for Bakytzhan.
The Japanese duo competing for the second bronze medal of the -60 kg category were Retsu Matsunaga and Sei Sato, each hunting their first World Judo Tour medal. It was a tricky contest for both of them, illustrated by the penalties they received for passivity, two each in a minute and a half. With 40 seconds remaining, Matsunaga earned his third and so Sato was the second bronze medallist in the category.
Final (-60 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-60 kg)
