Georgia and Korea fought for the gold, both first-timers in the world mixed team championship final.
FINAL
Georgia vs Korea
+90 kg: Asian champion Seungyeob Lee (KOR) stepped forward to face Georgia’s seasoned Olympic and world medallist Guram Tushishvili in the first contest of the final. The Georgian made a small gripping infringement straight away to put himself a shido behind. From that point on Tushishvili threatened his left uchi-mata repeatedly. However, undeterred, Lee attacked with a huge ashi-guruma which almost tripped his opponent. So, Lee did it again and this time he earned the full ippon and a point for the team.
-57 kg: 2024 world champion Mimi Huh (KOR) and 2025 world champion Eteri Liparteliani could not be more different in style but the queen of the moment is without doubt Ms Liparteliani. She absolutely dominated her opponent, winning with a massive Tani-otoshi with very little significant resistance. Eteri is a renewed judoka!
-73 kg: Mikheili Bakhbakhashvili (GEO) and Donghyun Bae (KOR) were next up, with the scores at 1-1. Neither has made an impact yet on the World Judo Tour but in Budapest they were able to raise their level.Both fought excellently but it was the Georgian who took the upper hand with a fantastic semi-gaeshi and then he concluded on the floor.
-70 kg: Mariam Tchanturia (GEO) fought Yerang Lee (KOR) with the aim of winning a 3rd point for Georgia. Powerful gripping and a relentless hunt for throws made her a formidable opponent and the Korean just couldn’t find her groove. Tchanturia threw for a waza-ari first with an uchi-mata combination and then grappled her way to two more scores.
-90 kg: In a show of force, Georgia put Lasha Bekauri on the mat to fight in what could be the last contest of the 2025 World Championships. A win against Jonghoon Kim would give them an historic title. It was a good move as, in less than a minute, he scored ippon with an o-uchi-gari to claim the all-important 4th point.
After the final Eteri Liparteliani said, “I’m so happy because I did the double, double world champion!” In Budapest Liparteliani wrote her own individual history, she wrote a new chapter for women in Georgia and was also a member of a Georgian team which did the unthinkable and won the team title ahead of both France and Japan; incredible!
BRONZE MEDAL MATCHES
Italy vs Germany
+90 kg: Kone (GER) countered a powerful attack from Pirelli (ITA) to place a yuko on the board, an important first score. It was the only score of the contest and so Germany had their first point.
-57 kg: Seija Ballhaus (GER) dominated 20 years old Giulia Carna (ITA), throwing her for a yuko and then settling into a good rhythm to defend that score until the seconds ticked away.
-73 kg: Esposito (ITA) and Wandtke (GER) were pretty even to begin with but then Italian began to edge ahead and Wandtke picked up two penalties. As the fight neared the end of normal time without a positive score on the board, the German judoka picked Esposito up with a huge ura-nage but Esposito shifted his weight and ensured he would land in control and on top. He earned the ippon to bring the scores closer, 2-1 to Germany.
-70 kg: Pedrotti (ITA) had a big challenge ahead of her in the shape of Miriam Butkereit (GER) but she’s not afraid of a challenge and the two athletes went full steam into the contest. Butkereit took the lead early but only by a yuko and Pedrotti hunted the equaliser without reserve. The German picked up two penalties but it wasn’t enough to stop[ the inevitable and Germany had their 3rd win.
-90 kg: In a high level contest, Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Eduard Trippel (GER) faced current European champion Christian Parlati (ITA). At the two minute mark Trippel took a shot at glory and went for a very loose and unexpected kata-guruma. It caught the Italian off-guard and scored a waza-ari. Parlati chased and chased, trying to prepare high-percentage attacks, but Trippel kept his distance and eventually used up the last seconds of the fight on the ground. That was it: 4-1 to Germany.
After the match, newly appointed head coach Marko Spittka said, “I am really so happy, especially for the men’s side. Now everyone can see that the first step is coming. Their individual days were not so strong but here they really came together and showed what they’re capable of. Now they have a world bronze medal!”
Brazil vs Japan
+90 kg: This was a really tight first couple of minutes, Leonardo Goncalves (BRA) giving Nakano (JPN) a very hard time in both tach-waza and ne-waza but the Japanese fighter raised his game, step by step and eventually threw with a massive uchi-mata to take the first victory of the match.
-57 kg: Momo Tamaoki was just too technical and too fast for Jessica Lima. A shime-waza win sealed Japan’s 2-0 lead over Brazil very quickly, making way for the middleweight men to step forward.
-73 kg: Ardina (BRA) was out-manoeuvred by Ishihara (JPN) who scored a waza-ari almost as the fight began. A little while later he rolled in for a huge seoi-nage to finish the contest early. This meant the scoreline stood at 3-0 to Japan and one more win for them would end the discussion.
-70 kg: Utana Terada (JPN) was tasked taking the fourth win but the -63 kg fighter who had been world champion twice at -57 kg, Rafaela Silva, wasn’t going to make it easy. It was close almost until the bell but just when golden score looked certain, Terada rolled under the Brazilian with a fast seoi-otoshi to log the team’s fourth and all-important last win.
RESULTS
GOLD - Georgia
SILVER - Korea
BRONZE - Germany
BRONZE - Japan
