J1M -70 kg
Paralympic champion Florin Alexandru Bologa (ROU) was the man with a target on his back. Seldom beaten, the Romanian champion held his nerve all the way into the final block, showing an excellent awareness of the rules and taking every fight by the maximum score. In the final he faced Viktor Rudenko (NPA) who had seen off opposition from France, Kazakhstan and Italy to secure his medal but the colour was unknown until the end of the day.
Bologa came out fast, dropping underneath Rudenko with seoi-otoshi attacks immediately. However it was Rudenko who logged the first score, a little yuko which put the number one seed under pressure. It was a short-lived lead though as Bologa evened things up, countering well before even the first minute was over. Another 40 seconds passed, all the time Bologa needed to get the full measure of the contest, and he threw for ippon to add a further gold to his ever-growing haul.
J1W -52 kg
The lightest of the J1 categories was decided in the round robin format. Alfiya Tlekkabyl (KAZ) won each of her three contests by ippon in the morning session and could therefore relax and enjoy her moment as the event champion already while the final block progressed. Omnia Dawoud opened the medal tally for the host nation, taking silver in this group, while Ferdauza Ubarikova (KGZ) completed the podium.
J2W -52 kg
Kokila (IND) and Yui Fujiwara (JPN) were the best two athletes of the morning session, in this category. Both hunted the ippon scores and both were successful.
In the final, Kokila had stronger attacks in tachi-waza but Fujiwara was dangerous in transition, looking for the shime-waza-win at every opportunity. When that didn’t pay off, the Japanese athlete began to open upend attacked with ashi-waza, makikomi and seoi-otoshi techniques, defended well by Kokila. The contest continued without scores until just before the bell when Kokila turned in and just caught Fujiwara with a nifty ko-uchi-gari. It scored ippon to send the gold medal to India.
J2M -70 kg
This category was dominated by the Uzbek delegation. World champion Kerman Nurillaev and Paralympic champion Sherzod Namozov made light work of the opposition to feature in their very own derby under the shade of the great pyramids. However, the fight was not to be as Namozov sustained an injury earlier on the day and withdrew from the final contest. Nurillaev took the gold, but Uzbekistan took both the gold and the silver.
J2W -60 kg
Unseeded athlete Isabell Thal (GER) was a revelation in this category. She beat the number one seed, Dos Santos (BRA) in her opening contest and then moved past serial medallist Marta Arce Payno of Spain.
Her final was to be against the number two seed, Lucia Araujo (BRA), who did not falter during the preliminaries, sending Brussig (SUI) and Gonzalez (BRA) back to the locker room.
In the final there was a real battle for supremacy, Thal gripping and moving well but Araujo with the faster attacks, a left-sided tai-otoshi being particularly disruptive for the German judoka. Araujo, experienced and strong, took the win and the gold but Thal had a great day and will be back for more medals in the future, no doubt.
J1M -81 kg
Germany’s Lennart Sass gave everything he had during the morning session to ensure he would feature in the final block of the first day, knocking the top seed out along the way. HIs opponent in the final was Yergali Shamey (KAZ) who was impressive in the quarter-final but had a much tougher time in the semi.
Each finalist had their tactics, from the gripping to the attack style and more, but they somewhat cancelled each other out and so neither could register a score. Penalties came into play with 90 seconds to go but it took another 3 minutes, well into golden score, for Shamey to amass 3, sending the gold medal to Germany.
J2M -81 kg
Galymzhan Smagululy (KAZ) seemed invincible; no matter how hard his adversaries tried, he simply refused to be knocked down. He had the mindset of a number one seed and embodied it throughout the morning. His teammate, Bexultan Kulmurza, had a similar attitude despite not being the favourite. He made the most of every opportunity and defeated the second seed, 2024 IBSA world medallist Evan Molloy, to reach an all-Kazakh final.
In the final it took less than a minute for Kulmurza to get the better of his teammate, scoring ippon before helping him back to his marks, along with the referee. It was a respectful end to the final block.
The first day of competition in Giza has been peppered with great throws and fast transition. Red and gold backnumbers have made it back to the podium but there have also been some new faces among the successful athletes of the day. There is much to look forward to on the second day, beginning at 10am local time on Tuesday 19th August.