“Let’s begin generally; today brought a good mix of tachi-waza and ne-waza. There were a number of really strong osae-waza wins, with great control in the preparation and execution of turning techniques.
We found most of the top seeds raced to the top, aiming at medals that they should, on paper, be able to claim. The world number 1 at -66kg was the big one missing, after he lost in the 3rd round to Abuladze (AIN), who arrived in Doha with some very intelligent and explosive judo.
There were no direct hansoku-make finishes today, which is excellent. Only two contests in golden score were concluded by shido. Linked to that reduction in penalties, we also see there is now excellent control of the judogi during contests, without needed any prompts from the referee.
We had two Olympic final replays today, but in earlier rounds. Abe (JPN) and Margvelashvili (GEO), fought with the same result as in Tokyo. Uta Abe and Buchard (FRA) also fought and with the same result. I will say it was really an honour to see the two -52kg women with gold patches fighting each other: Krasniqi (KOS) and Abe.
The day provided good, clean judo without contentious issues. A big part of that is to do with the continuous education of the world’s top referees, all are on the same page. The pre-event referee briefings are invaluable, they’re really doing the mat work all together at each events, with supervisors and other members of the team also present. One of the issues discussed prior to the World Championships-Doha 2023 was the judo done right at the edge of the contest area. Straight away all have a better understanding of the edge situations. Head Referee Director Florin Daniel Lascau always leads with a different set of ‘what-ifs’ and the fresh discussion between everyone really supports learning.
Stand-outs were Abe and Abe, truly a different class but also Yondonperenlei (MGL) really impressed. His gripping was so fast, unorthodox and strong and really looked to throw; very powerful. Maruyama’s judo is so clean, a firm favourite with judo fans, hence the struggle with Mongolia in the grittier situations.”
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