Ruslan Pashayev (AZE) and Ronald Lima (BRA) had made their way through the field during the preliminary rounds, passing worthy challengers over and over again.
In their final, Lima, last year’s winner in Linz, knew there was danger associated with every movement. Pashayev can catch anyone from almost any position and so the mental energy needed to navigate such a fight is immense. Lima was ready, though. He applied all his power to attack with an o-uchi-gari. Pashayev tried to spin off it but he was caught for a yuko. The pressure on him then became extreme.
The Azerbaijani competitor pulled Lima in more and more and as he tried to escape, he swept him with a huge de-ashi-harai. Lima reacted well and scrambled for it to be only a yuko and so the scores were even. They went into golden score and after two minutes of extra time a yuko and two penalties were visible on each side of the scoreboard.
Another minute passed and they both looked for ashi-waza to but gingerly. Pashayev took a chance to counter Lima with a beautiful tsubami-gaeshi. The gold would be heading to Azerbaijan while Lima would collect silver, his second final in Linz in as many editions, but it wasn’t gold for him this time.
Adrian Nieto Chinarro (ESP) and Gusman Kyrgyzbayev (KAZ) each wanted to take a medal home from Linz but only one of them would get their wish. Their contest was fought well, both attacking, both hunting the vital score, but they remained tied and went into golden score. There, it was Nieto Chinarro who delivered the decisive action, hooking in for an uchi-mata. It scored, he cheered, the bronze medal was heading to Spain.
The second bronze medallist would go to Olympic silver medallist Vazha Margvelashvili (GEO) or European silver medallist David Garcia Torne (ESP). The seemingly all-important first score came from Garcia Torne, despite it being a close and exciting fight. In a flurry of ashi-waza excellence, both engaged fully, and with only a minute or so left on the clock, a yuko separated them.
Of course, this pushed Margvelashvili to work harder and pressure more. In an effort to avoid getting too close, Garcia Torne then dropped with a poorly prepared seoi-otoshi. The Georgian believe he could counter it and attempted to roll him over but Garcia Torne had pre-empted that and already had the ko-soto-gake locked in. He scored ippon and came off the mat to hug his coach, Quino Ruiz. This is Spain’s fifth medal of the tournament already, only 4 categories in!
Final (-66 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-66 kg)
