On the first day of competition the 4 lightweight categories were fought. Boukli (FRA) was looking to defend her 2025 title, as was Giorgi Sardalashvili (GEO) and he was due to have the whole arena on his side. However, things didn’t quite go to plan. He lost the final to double Olympic medallist and 2023 European champion Luke Mkheidze of France while Mkheidze’s teammate, Shirine Boukli, did manage to defend her position. That meant that the first two golds of the day were both on their way to France.
Ensuring no whitewash, Russia put forward an excellent representative in the shape of Murad Chopanov. He flew through the -66 kg category and took the gold, beating top seed Luukas Saha (FIN) in the final. For Saha, this may have seemed less than satisfactory but it is yet another fantastic result to add to his growing list of achievements; a second European medal to sit aside his 2024 world bronze.
In the last category of the day, Distria Krasniqi (KOS) and Amandine Buchard (FRA) delivered an epic final, an immense meeting of two great champions. Both know how to win, both have the experience needed to stand on top of the podium, but only one would make it to that top step and today it was the Kosovan.
France extended their lead further by adding a bronze medal to their tally, thanks to Walide Khyar at -66 kg. Behind France on the medal table are Russia, Kosovo, Georgia and Finland; a top 5 that could change in the days to come.
Three more categories will be fought to their conclusions tomorrow and it is promising to be a day of power, precision and peak performances as a plethora of world, Olympic and European medallists take to the Tbilisi tatami. Tune in to JudoTV.com to follow all the action live.