In the final of the last category of the Qingdao Grand Prix 2025, Gonchigsuren Batkhuyag (MGL) and Marius Fizel (SVK) gave all they had in the search for gold.
Some rushing and a general lack of preparation made their many attacks less effective than the athletes might have liked but both worked hard to find the right moments and eventually Batkhuyag hooked on to Fizel’s outside leg and drove him to the tatami for ippon. He has two grand slam golds already and now adds a first grand prix gold to his collection.
Alisher Yusupov (UZB) and Seungyeob Lee (KOR) fought a cagey contest which only sped up in the last half a minute. Yusupov led from early on, by a single yuko, but Lee didn’t react to it until the time was almost gone.
A big attack came and almost scored with 30 seconds to go and then at 15 seconds to go Yusupov attacked with a lack of preparations and Lee capitalised, countering with an o-uchi-gari for a waza-ari. Lee therefore won his first grand prix medal, beating an Olympic medallist to do so.
The second bronze medal contest was a busy battle between 3-time grand slam winner Tsetsentsengel Odkhuu (MGL) and China’s own Haiyang Li, far less experienced but with the crowd on his side and they played their part well. Odkhuu and Li attacked and avoided deep into golden score and amassed two penalties each in doing so. These came not for the want of a score but for small infringements. However as the contest continued, the Mongolian judoka began to lose his composure and false attack gave China a new medal.
Final (+100 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (+100 kg)
