He began his campaign from pole position and looked to be good shape. He had a bye first and then threw Pirelli for ippon with tsar-gosh in round two. Against Baikamurov (KAZ) he delivered another big throw and moved into the quarter-final easily. There though, he met 2023 world champion Arman Adamian (IJF) who earned the first score of their contest with a kata-guruma. Kotsoiev responded in his usual style and equalised but he didn’t protect his landing, rolled on to his back and Adamian held him there to take the win. Yet another Olympic champion had fallen.
Arman Adamian has his own story in Budapest and yes it is capped, to this point, by his win against Kotsoiev. Up to and including the quarter-final, he won every contest in ne-waza and only with holds, no submissions. This is not a standard set of results but adds an element of danger for every opponent.
Data Arai (JPN) was the second seed and he went one step further than Kotsoiev, reaching the semi-final with relative easy, although he didn’t look to be pushing too much. He won his first two fights with yuko scores and didn’t really open up much more in the later rounds even if he did log a couple of ippons.
Arai’s semi-final opponent was unexpected. From his place at 38th in the world ranking, Seheon Kim (KOR) took out world silver medallist Aleksandar Kukolj (SRB) by a yuko in round 2 and then threw Leonardo Goncalves, Brazili’s number 3 seed, for ippon with tani-otoshi. He then countered Kostoev (UAE) for ippon, from a yuko down, to place himself in his first ever IJF semi-final. His best result ahead of this worlds is a 7th place at the Paris Grand Slam in February; no other results to be found.
Now we come to pool B; what a quarter! This could have been a stand-alone event; incredible level, incredible back catalogues of medals, and it made for unmissable watching. Sulamanidze (GEO), world and Olympic medallist, double world champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP), Matvey Kanikovskiy (IJF) who has never failed to reach the final of any IJF event entered, Kyle Reyes (CAN, world silver medallist; a quarter rammed with excellence!
This is how it went: Sherazadishvili threw Sulamanidze for ippon, Kanikovskiy destroyed everyone including Reyes on the way to the pool final, to meet the Spanish judoka. He then threw Sherazadishvili too, to set up a semi-final with his teammate, Adamian.
Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, having dispatched the Olympic silver medallist apready, had to deal with the Olympic champion in the repechage. This is no taller order than this! They each threw but in the end Kotsoiev found a second throw first and was able to win his way into the final block, just not in the contest he expected to be in.
Can you guess who won? Kanikovskiy gave Adamian no chance at all to hold him down like the rest of his opponents. He took his time to do it, waiting for golden score, but Kanikovskiy threw Adamian just like he had thrown everyone else. His intention was clear and Dota Arai would not be getting an easy ride in the final block, which will begin at 18:00 local time. It will be a final not worth missing; make sure your JudoTV app is sign in and ready.
Final
Matvey Kanikovskiy (IJF) vs Dota Arai (JPN)
Bronze medal contests
Zelym Kostoiev (AZE) vs Sheen Kim (KOR)
Dzhafar Kostoev (UAE) vs Arman Adamian (IJF)