Neil Adams, former world champion, all too familiar with the pressures and excitement of fighting at this level, paused his commentating duties to discuss his observations of this introductory day in Budapest.
“Sometimes the lighter weights can be very challenging, with their lower stance and lightning fast techniques, often lots of yoko-sutemi-waza included. Today though, we have seen a mixture of great transition, some fantastic ne-waza and an outstanding range of tachi-waza styles. It really has been a particularly good lightweight day. The power is added through the middle weights and and up to the heavier categories so the judo really changes.
The in and out, the speed of movement can be scrappy but it was precise today. I can see focussed athletes and they are beginning the day sharp. I remember back in October at the restart where many hadn’t had randori, but here today it’s different.
A couple of the big stars had a slower start than expected. Krasniqi (KOS) got to round 3 without a match and that didn’t necessarily work for her. It was a really tough first contest for her and she only just scraped it. Her warm-up match wasn’t as it should have been. Then against Tsunoda (JPN) she was thrown twice with the traditional tomoe-nage. Tsunoda and the -60kg Russian Judo Federation athlete looked in a class of their own, with 8 ippon between them on the way to their respective high class finals. Tsunoda made it look particularly easy and that’s impressive at this level. She even managed to pass Koga, in the final, without too much hindrance.
There were big surprises with Nagayama (JPN), Garrigos (ESP) and Koga (JPN) going out, so it became very open, with Abuladze (RJF) taking full advantage, straight through to the final, to meet Kyrgyzbayev (KAZ). There Abuladze completed his day just as his early round performances indicated, with a dynamic and determined finish and a gold medal around his neck.
It has been a great start to this World Championships, exciting and dynamic. Previous head to heads don’t always mean anything when you get to a Worlds. Being afraid to lose as opposed to just fighting their fight can change their game and that could be a factor here, with an Olympic Games looming as well as today’s podium.
I must make a special note about the refereeing, now so consistently good. The video replay system is spot on and is being utilised, as it should be, in a timely manner and that all helps with the smooth running of the event.”
The IJF and the impressive Papp László Budapest Sportaréna have looked after their judoka today, providing a slick opening ceremony, clear protocols in all areas and a spectacular new-style final block.
Day two will see two more world champions crowned and can be followed live at http://judolive01.lb.judobase.org/live/ from 10am (local time).