The world ranking is nevertheless still a good indicator, to get an idea of the final block. Kazan is no exception to the rule. We saw, throughout the day, favourites confirm their status and others disappear prematurely. We saw outsiders take great advantage of their presence in Kazan and others whose hopes have quickly vanished.
France, which dominates in the women's categories, jeopardised all their chances today, failing to gain valuable points, particularly in the -81kg, where the Olympic quota is far from being assured. The Japanese judoka, Arai, sure to participate in the Games, struggled in the second round before finally being able to progress in the competition, while being less sharp than her teammates of day one. And she finally lost her semifinal against the Russian, Madina TAIMAZOVA. The Olympic champion, Fabio Basile, very recognisable by his flamboyant style and his gold back number, fell during his second contest, after a mistake that dragged him on to his back. At -81kg, Sagi MUKI (ISR) had come to seek confidence in Kazan. Mission not accomplished, since he bowed out in the first round, despite being seeded number one.
We also admired the precision of UNGVARI Attila (HUN), who took full advantage of Muki's elimination, to free himself and make a superb run through the preliminaries, while the Russian athletes continued to rack up the rounds, without ultra-domination, still leaving room for other nations, although as the host country Russia can enter four athletes per category.
There is still a lot of work to do in the coming weeks. At the beginning of June, the World Championships will be held in Hungary. It will be the last big world meeting for scoring points, but it also serves to ignite the spirits before the judo family reunites in Tokyo. Before all that, tomorrow there will be a third and final day of competition at the Kazan Grand Slam, an event which, for the moment, is keeping all its promises.
-63kg: Polish judoka Agata OZDOBA-BLACH Tops the Medal Podium It is not insulting to say that Ketleyn QUADROS (BRA) is a veteran on the World Judo Tour, since the Brazilian was already an Olympic bronze medallist in 2008! Thirteen years after that performance, she remains competitive and efficient, which must be underlined. People know how difficult it is to stay at the highest level over a long period of time. In particularly good shape in Kazan, QUADROS won her ticket to the final where she was opposed by Agata OZDOBA-BLACH (POL), fifth at the last European Championships.
After a very well balanced final, the athletes entered the golden score period. After 20 seconds the Brazilian thought she had won, with a counterattack but it was not enough for a waza-ari. It was ultimately Agata OZDOBA-BLACH who scored, after more than two minutes of golden score, with ippon-ko-uchi-gari for waza-ari.
Apart from a fifth place at Grand Prix level, Cristina CABANA PEREZ (ESP) had no Grand Slam reference before she contested the bronze medal in Kazan, against Ekaterina VALKOVA (RUS). The Russian rapidly concluded the match with two consecutive waza-ari, the first from a yoko-tomoe-nage and the second from a reverse drop seoi-nage to win bronze.
The second bronze medal was contested by Sanne VERMEER (NED), third place this year in Doha, Tel Aviv and the European Championships and Andreja LESKI (SLO), on the podium in each of her recent outings too: European Championships, Doha, Tel Aviv and Tashkent. It is Sanne VERMEER who will go back home with the medal after she scored a waza-ari with a shoulder movement.
Final QUADROS, Ketleyn (BRA) vs. OZDOBA-BLACH, Agata (POL)
Bronze Medal Contests CABANA PEREZ, Cristina (ESP) vs. VALKOVA, Ekaterina (RUS) VERMEER, Sanne (NED) vs. LESKI, Andreja (SLO)
Final Results 1. OZDOBA-BLACH, Agata (POL) 2. QUADROS, Ketleyn (BRA) 3. VALKOVA, Ekaterina (RUS) 3. VERMEER, Sanne (NED) 5. CABANA PEREZ, Cristina (ESP) 5. LESKI, Andreja (SLO) 7. SHARIR, Gili (ISR) 7. TRAJDOS, Martyna (GER)
-73kg: Double for Russia Tohar BUTBUL (ISR) seemed well on his way to being an -73kg finalist, but he fell in the semi-final to young Makhmadbek MAKHMADBEKOV (RUS), pointing to a small 134th place in the world and only 21 years old. The latter found in the final his teammate Ayub KHAZHALIEV (RUS), a few years his senior but hardly better classified on the circuit, since he is currently 114th in the world.
Knowing each other perfectly, nothing seemed to differentiate the two and so after four minutes made their way into golden score, where a sudden attack that was not prepared well enough by KHAZHALIEV. MAKHMADBEKOV disappeared behind his back, throwing him with a massive counterattack for ippon. Both top spots for Russia.
For the first bronze medal, we found Vadzim SHOKA (BLR), seventh in the last European Championships and Nugzari TATALASHVILI (GEO), bronze in Tel Aviv this season. 36 seconds of golden score were necessary for TATALASHVILI to score a beautiful ippon with o-soto-otoshi, leaving SHOKA flat on his back.
It was for the second bronze medal that we saw two veterans of the circuit meet, with world medallist Victor SCVORTOV (UAE) and the silver medallist of the last European Championships, Tohar BUTBUL (ISR). It was definitely Victor SCVORTOV who showed more desire to win as he controlled the kumi-kata and was able to score a waza-ari with a ko-uchi-gari, a technique that the UAE athlete used throughout the match to put BUTBUL out of balance.
Final MAKHMADBEKOV, Makhmadbek (RUS) vs. KHAZHALIEV, Ayub (RUS)
Bronze Medal Contests SHOKA, Vadzim (BLR) vs. TATALASHVILI, Nugzari (GEO) SCVORTOV, Victor (UAE) vs. BUTBUL, Tohar (ISR)
Final Results 1. MAKHMADBEKOV, Makhmadbek (RUS) 2. KHAZHALIEV, Ayub (RUS) 3. SCVORTOV, Victor (UAE) 3. TATALASHVILI, Nugzari (GEO) 5. BUTBUL, Tohar (ISR) 5. SHOKA, Vadzim (BLR) 7. KARAPETIAN, Ferdinand (ARM) 7. RAICU, Alexandru (ROU)
-70kg: Talented TAIMAZOVA Wins For Russia If the two Japanese women who competed on the first day of competition fulfilled their contract perfectly by winning the gold medals, the story was not the same for ARAI Chizuru. From the start of the preliminary rounds, she showed weaknesses, unable to conclude her contests rapidly. It was not a good sign and everything was confirmed in the semi-final, as she bowed out to Madina TAIMAZOVA (RUS), strongly encouraged by her audience. The latter found in her way, for a last confrontation, the German Giovanna SCOCCIMARRO, third at the World Judo Masters last January.
The final presented several faces. The first was that of a TAIMAZOVA, bent in two, waiting for the counter-attack, but remaining dynamic. Then it was SCOCCIMARRO's turn to be dangerous, while the Russian lost energy, in attacks that were sometimes a little desperate and lacking in finish. The time of golden score had come. We continued to observe a match with a somewhat peculiar physiognomy, made up of power on the German side and varying sensations on the Russian side. However, nothing happened, SCOCCIMARRO remaining empty-handed with all her attacks, as TAIMAZOVA seemed to be able to escape everything, thanks to her flexibility. After more than four minutes of golden score, a strong attack by SCOCCIMARRO, from which TAIMAZOVA miraculously escaped, to launch an attack that offered the first gold medal for the Russian women's team in Kazan. There is talent in this young woman.
In the first match for a bronze medal, we found two great regulars on the world circuit, Anna BERNHOLM (SWE), already holder of 5 grand slam medals and Maria PORTELA (BRA), winner of the Tbilisi Grand Slam in March, but it was Anna BERNHOLM who added one new medal to her prize list. As only a few seconds remained on the scoreboard and everything looked blocked, the Swedish fighter counter-attacked a last drop seoi-nage attempt from the Brazilian.
Hilde JAGER (NED) is still young and she is already showing a great ability to advance in the big tournaments of the world circuit. She was integrated in the match for the bronze medal against ARAI Chizuru (JPN), who was expected at a better position here in Russia. JAGER started the match at a high pace, imposing her strength and it paid off as she scored a nice waza-ari, which she thought for a moment was ippon. Losing her concentration, the Dutch judoka was then thrown with a massive Japanese-style uchi-mata, that gave her no chance. ARAI comes back home with a medal and for sure a lot of questions but no real answer in her mind.
Final TAIMAZOVA, Madina (RUS) vs. SCOCCIMARRO, Giovanna (GER)
Bronze Medal Contests BERNHOLM, Anna (SWE) vs. PORTELA, Maria (BRA) JAGER, Hilde (NED) vs. ARAI, Chizuru (JPN)
Final Results 1. TAIMAZOVA, Madina (RUS) 2. SCOCCIMARRO, Giovanna (GER) 3. ARAI, Chizuru (JPN) 3. BERNHOLM, Anna (SWE) 5. JAGER, Hilde (NED) 5. PORTELA, Maria (BRA) 7. BELLANDI, Alice (ITA) 7. NIANG, Assmaa (MAR)
-81kg: UNGVARI Concludes An Amazing Day There are days when everything seems to work perfectly. The matches are tough and fierce, but in the end all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. This is what happened for UNGVARI Attila today, until the final. A few weeks ago he finished on the podium in Antalya, but it was for a bronze. We can not say that his day was a walk in the park, but concentrated like never before, precise with the hands and confident in his tachi and ne-waza, the Hungarian found himself in a position to win the gold medal against the Russian Alan KHUBETSOV (RUS), who also had the perfect competition so far.
He had demonstrated it since the morning, that today was his day and he did not disappoint. UNGVARI Attila, during the final seemed at times a little under pressure from his powerful opponent, but at no time did he give up, neither when he was under pressure, nor when he was penalised. Always very precise on the grips, always on the lookout for the slightest fault of his opponent, he waited for golden score, to take out his secret weapon and with a little flick of his foot, threw his opponent for a waza-ari. Bravo Attila, who thus enters the group of athletes who have distinguished themselves in recent months in the -81kg category. With this victory, UNGVARI Attila becomes the seventh Hungaria athlete to win a Grand Slam. The list is growing and this only reinforces the interest of the category for the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
Aslan LAPPINAGOV (RUS), third in Tel Aviv in February, was present in the first bronze medal contest against LEE Sungho (KOR), already holder of a silver medal at grand slam level. With a massive, reverse, Korean-style seoi-nage, combined with a ko-soto-gari, LEE scored ippon to win the medal.
For the second bronze medal, Yunus BEKMURZAEV (BLR), without any reference on the international circuit, met Murad FATIYEV (AZE), already classified twice on the circuit since the beginning of the year. Once again FATIYEV stepped on to the podium, after BEKMURZAEV was penalised a third time.
Final UNGVARI, Attila (HUN) vs. KHUBETSOV, Alan (RUS)
Bronze Medal Contests LAPPINAGOV, Aslan (RUS) vs. LEE, Sungho (KOR) BEKMURZAEV, Yunus (BLR) vs. FATIYEV, Murad (AZE)
Final Results 1. UNGVARI, Attila (HUN) 2. KHUBETSOV, Alan (RUS) 3. FATIYEV, Murad (AZE) 3. LEE, Sungho (KOR) 5. BEKMURZAEV, Yunus (BLR) 5. LAPPINAGOV, Aslan (RUS) 7. CHOUCHI, Sami (BEL) 7. GANDIA, Adrian (PUR)