In his powerful, upright style, opening with aggressive kumi-kata, Hashimoto was preparing to set the stadium on fire. Against the Ukrainian Said-Magomed Khalidov, everything came down to a tactical victory though. Then there was the Tajik Abubakr Sherov, very offensive who scored a waza-ari first with a kata-guruma which rolled under Hashimoto. The Japanese judoka had to go into overdrive mode and was close to winning from a hold down but Sherov escaped. Just into the last minute, Hashimoto produced two efforts from very low seoi-otoshi techniques which earned him two waza-ari scores.
It was another tactical victory against Martin Hojak (SLO) which allowed Hashimoto to go one more round but in the semi-final he finally fell twice. The strong man in the upper part of the draw since the morning began, Karen Galatian (AIN), was the one to remove Hashimoto.
If many eyes were on Hashimoto, there were even more on the national hero, world and Olympic champion Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO), who strung together victories with brilliance and mastery. Igor Wandtke (GER) could do nothing to prevent the penalties from climbing and was disqualified during golden score. Joshua Green (IRL) fell to the ground, into an arm lock, as did Heoncheol Kang (KOR) in the next round. The great Shavdatuashvili was on fire. In the semi-final it was finally Tohar Butbul who suffered the Georgian's law after a bitter, intense but respectful contest. Given the level demonstrated by Galstian and Shavdatuashvili we could expect a high level final.
In fact, it was of a very high level, especially from local legend and hero Lasha Shavdatuashvili. The champion has been struggling a little during his last tournaments, out of timing, not fully fit, but what he did today and demonstrated during the final was outstanding. After an entry with o-uchi-gari that blocked the leg of his opponent, he suddenly changed direction and with a form of yoko-gake orbited Galstian with one of the most spectacular throws of the tournament so far. What a champion!
Soichi Hashimoto had to settle for a possible bronze medal but for that he still had to face Mark Hristov (BUL) and it was not an easy contest. With only a few seconds to go and two shido apiece, it was a last tsuri-komi-goshi from Hashimoto that gave him the victory. It was a difficult day in the office for the one who will represent Japan this summer at the Olympic Games. Since the retirement of Shohei Ono, he is world number three and Japanese number one. For sure this day in Georgia was not what he expected but he will have learned a lot, especially against European judoka whom he is likely to meet in Paris.
Alexander Bernd Gabler (GER) and Tohar Butbul (ISR) faced each other in the second contest for a bronze medal. This could have gone either way but in the end it was Butbul who scored twice to win the bronze medal.
Final (-73 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-73 kg)
