The Azerbaijani began well, throwing for a yuko inside the first minute but Kondo was patient and made the necessary space to throw with a huge left-sided uchi-mata not long before the bell. Aghayev would not reach the semi-final after all.
In fact, from the top four only Iznaur Saaev (IJF) obeyed the seedings. He could have expected top see Ariunbold Enkhtaivan (MGL) in his semi-final but he was beaten by Kondo’s teammate, Hiroto Shirakane (JPN), in their round-of-16 contest. Shirakane and Kondo eventually booked their places in an all-Japanese lightweight final.
In the end, Aghayev didn’t make it to the final block at all. Turn Bayramov, also from Azerbaijan, had been seeded 4th and so they could have met in the quarter-final but fate placed them in a repechage contest instead and it was Bayramov who came out on top.
The final block will feature the following medal contests:
Final
Hayato Kondo (JPN) vs Hiroto Shirakane (JPN)
Bronze medal contests
Turan Bayramov (AZE) vs Iznaur Saaev (IJF)
Sukhbat Byambasuren (MGL) vs Mehrzod Sufiev (TJK)
In the -66 kg category, the preliminary rounds were dominated by only one man, world and Olympic medallist Mr Denis Vieru (MDA). The contests were not necessarily fast or won with the biggest techniques but at no point did Vieru ever look like he could lose; on a level above the rest.
- The home nation also had high hopes of medals in this category with highly ranked and very experienced judoka Erkhembayar Battogtokh and Baskhuu Yondonperenlei in action. Channyeong Kim (KOR) dashed Yondonperenlei’s hopes though, throwing him for three yuko scores in their quarter-final, while Abdurakhim Nutfulloev (UZB) halted Battogtokh’s run, throwing him for a waza-ari in the second exchange of their quarter-final contest, a gentle sumi-otoshi, before slamming him with a massive pick-up later, just to confirm the win.
Battogtokh then climbed over his compatriot in their repechage fight, ensuring at least one of the Mongolian men would reach the final block. Yondonperenlei was out, a shock for everyone.
The final block will feature the following medal contests:
Final
Denis Vieru (MDA) vs Abdurakhim Nutfulloev (UZB)
Bronze medal contests
Jihyuk Yang (KOR) vs Channyeong Kim (KOR)
Erkhembayar Battogtokh (MGL) vs Bauyrzhan Narbayev (KAZ)