Day 3 Belongs to Italy and Serbia at -73 kg and -81 kg

Tavoletta had a bye and 4 wins to reach the final, to face 16 year old Bakhtadze (GEO). The fifth seed threw or strangled everyone and with a range of well-drilled, mixed-direction techniques. Abdisalamov (TKM) was thrown with a sode-tsuri-komi-goshi and then an o-uchi-gari before the Canadian was strangled and the Japanese, Arakawa, was also despatched.

Velickovic (SRB) met him in the semi-final and should have provided more challenge but Bakhtadze sailed through to the final. The Serbian had a tough day but his will to win and overall staying power was oustanding, a young athlete who can hold his ground no matter the pressure.

Arakawa arrived in Zagreb with some expectation of success and his ne-waza skills particularly gave him a sincere advantage over the rest but in the cadet age band we find the gaps that must be filled before these athletes can take their places among the best juniors and seniors. Arakawa lacked strategy and also failed to anticipate the danger that comes with a change in rhythm or a full contact 50-50 situation. He had won with ko-soto-gari and a hold in his first contest, a tight shime-waza in the second and an osaekomi in the third but when he met the Georgian there was no groundwork available!

Elsewhere in the group there were ippon finishes all over the place, showing that the level is high, even for those who don’t leave with medals. A medal at -73 kg here is a huge indicator of potential.

The first bronze medal was contested by Shukurov (AZE) and Velickovic. It was tense and well intentioned but despite the number of attack attempts neither could muster the precision required to scratch a score in to the Baird. It was a shido apiece going into golden score but the deadlock was broken at 1:40 into extra time as the Azeri hooked into a full power o-uchi-gari and flattened his opponent.

The second medal of the category went to Ablakulov of Uzbekistan, despite an excellent day from the Hungarian, Pinter. The Uzbek won the Tashkent Asian Cadet Cup this year and is ranked 15th in the world but the Hungarian came from a distant 76th in the world and not a single medal to his name. Today he is 5th in the world and can be extremely proud of what he has achieved. Perhaps we will see both of these athletes again in the future.

The final was so close and so exciting. Both men can throw, both men want to throw and that impetus makes for a high energy match, exactly what we want from a final. Tavoletta never gives up. Bakhtadze never gives up. It could have been a stalemate but their styles wouldn’t allow it. Eventually the gold was decided by penalties in favour of the Italian but that didn’t do the outstanding judo and gymnastic ability justice. What a future they both have!

At -81 kg one name to remember from this point on is Dosbol Balgabay (KAZ). Not worrying about full names, we can just look at the results of his contests and the flags he took down: Japan, Brazil and Georgia all lost their best cadets to the Kazakh. However, the strong character of the Serbian forced a rethink in the arena. Rutovic went down a waza-ari in the first thirty seconds of their semi-final and 30 seconds later was almost held down too. It looked inevitable that the Kazakh would reach the final. He didn’t!

Balgabay couldn’t have foreseen the dogged persistence of the Serbian who grappled him and chased the score non-stop and just over a minute and a half after escaping the Kazakh’s hold he took a close and unorthodox grip and with full body contact threw with sumi-gaeshi to equalise, then holding for the required ten seconds to complete the win.

In the final Rutovic was pegged to meet D Urbano (ITA), the 5th seed of the category. He had a less spectacular journey to the final but in this group it is no less impressive. He threw Aleksic (BIH) and Valchev (BUL) with seoi-nage, and Distel (GER) with seoi-otoshi, changing tack in the semi-final to throw the number one seed, Grahovac (SRB) with a brilliant de-ashi-harai for waza-ari.

Dusan Grahovac must hold a record on the circuit for most medals without ever winning a tournament. It’s easy to predict that he will win the bronze when you look at his profile. He took bronze at the 2022 continentals and worlds, at the 2023 Europeans and also at EYOF just a few weeks ago. However, judo isn’t a predictable sport and even the strongest trends can take a beating from an underdog, a hidden gem or a lapse in concentration.

The first bronze medal was fought for by Distel (GER) and the powerful thrower from Kazakhstan, Dosbol Balgabay, but the German didn’t allow any throws to be fully executed, answering even the biggest pick-up attempts with his own. However, always being second to the exchange brought a different set of problems and Distel was awarded 3 penalties, offering the medal to Balgabay.

Bendeliani (GEO) and Grahovac set about finding out of the Serbian’s trend would continue in Zagreb but an early waza-ari for the Georgian made it look less and less likely. It was enough of a buffer between Grahovac and the podium for Bendeliani to hold on to the end of normal time and claim the medal.

The final, another excellent contest, between Tavoletta’s club mate D Urbano and Serbian judoka Rutovic was fairly one-way with Rutivoc scoring waza-ari from a tomoe-nage after only a minute and doubling the tally not long later with a sumi-gaeshi. It was gold for Serbia, silver for Italy.