-100kg: The Canadian King

The sadness of some always provokes the joy of others and for the past ten days, the new contingent to watch has come from Canada. Kyle Reyes and Shady Elnahas represent the best of Canadian judo. They are very good, they get excellent results and they go everywhere together. Elnahas wasn’t that far away in Tashkent and Reyes narrowly missed out because he contested the final and won silver. Since the two had crossed halfway around the world for the world championships, they decided to stop by Abu Dhabi on their way home. Reyes had no rival worthy, not even the Uzbek Turaboev or the Kazakh Sharkhan were able to stop the onslaught of the Canadian, who over time is realising his real potential but it never hurts to face opponents with the typical tricks that experience gives, people who know all the aspects of a fight, physical and mental, people who are a headache for anyone, like Asley González. The Romanian is a former world champion racked by injuries but at his best he is a superlative judoka and experience allows him to thrive in the most adverse conditions. In Abu Dhabi he offered us his best version and since Reyes is very fit, the fight was interesting, the most tactical of the morning. There is one thing that González does not like, that thing is left-handed judoka and Reyes is, and it was there, on the left side, where the Canadian built the victory with an expertly prepared waza-ari. He made the final in Tashkent, the final in Abu Dhabi and so the man to beat is called Reyes, which means Kings in Spanish and he just had one, a Spaniard, in the final, in case he wanted to show him the crown.

That Spaniard is called Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, who it is no longer necessary to introduce, but since we are educated, here is a biographical telegram with his two world titles at -90kg. As we were talking about the Canadian contingent, we are going to mix it with the trajectory of the Spanish because they are intertwined stories. Elnahas, of whom we have already spoken, was the executioner of Sherazadishvili in Tashkent and we know that the Spaniard did not like what happened because he did not fight at his best. Elnahas is also left-handed, like Reyes, and very good. Sherazadishvili wanted to settle the score and he did so at the end of a very close and entertaining fight that ended with two waza-ari that he could not execute in Tashkent. A Canadian out, the debt paid and also excellent training before facing the ogre of the moment, who, as we have pointed out, is also left-handed. In other words, it was the best ending possible.

The final was the most tense of all, with two athletes very sure of what they were doing, very strong in their arms and legs, a clean fight in which both wanted to score because they are two pure attackers. The Spanish tried to impose his uchi-mata and the Canadian tried to counteract it but on Sherazadishvili's last attempt, the referees deemed him diving and he was disqualified. Reyes won the gold, the Spaniard the silver and we are left with a strange feeling because we don't know which of the two is better. Maybe next time.

Aleksandar Kukolj is a guy with no luck because he has suffered in -100kg what he suffered in -90kg. In the quarter-finals, Sherazadishvili's famous uchi-mata conceded and in the fight for the bronze he had to face González. This time the Serb played his cards well and scored an ippon, one of those which make a lot of noise, one in which Kukolj deposited all the anger accumulated after so many disappointments.

Elnahas also wanted to make amends because neither in Tashkent nor in Abu Dhabi did he reach the goal within the possibilities of his talent. The bronze would be a consolation prize but he had to beat another old rocker on the circuit, the Azerbaijani Elmar Gasimov. When Gasimov has someone better in front of him, he always gets rid of shido very quickly and Elnahas knew it. This time it was no other way and the Azeri had to fight against his own impulses and openly attack. However, he did not do it, or not enough and was logically penalised. Elnahas won and that too was logical.