After winning three medals, the Israeli national team arrives today (Saturday) for the last competitions in the Tel Aviv Grand Slam in judo, when this time the representatives from the higher weights will compete. At the center of things will be Peter Palachik and Raz Hershko who will try to finish on the podium in Tel Aviv as well after a good season.
up to 78 kg:
Inbar Lanir opened the match from the second round against Migla Dodanita from Lithuania and won with an impressive tiebreaker that brought her to the quarterfinals, where she went up against Alina Boehm from Germany and won by tiebreaker, so she qualified for the semifinals of the competition.
17-year-old Yuli Michiner met Giovanna Santos from Brazil in the first round and beat her in Vasari. In the second round, Michener went on to battle against the Dominican Moira Moriyo and won Vasari to qualify for the quarterfinals. Later, the Jewish woman faced the Portuguese Rochela Nunez and lost to her on penalties, so she will compete in the consolation house.
Over 78 kg:
Raz Hershko came to “grab the mat”, as she says, after she won many medals last year and was absent from the last Paris Grand Slam. She opened the competition in Tel Aviv in the second round of the women’s open weight against Diana Semchenko from Ukraine and beat her by Ipon in one minute, and therefore continued to the quarterfinals, where she ran over the Bosnian Larissa Krich with an impressive Ipon and qualified for the semi-finals.
up to 90 kg:
In the men’s competition, Lee Kochman wanted to get back to himself and show good ability in front of the home crowd after a bad period. His contest was supposed to start against Kosuke Mashiyama of Japan, but his opponent was eliminated from the contest at the last minute, so the Israeli was jumped directly to the second round for a fight against Ivan Philip Silva Morales of Cuba and lost to him in Vasari, so the Israeli was eliminated.
In the first round, Guy Gurevich received a challenging opponent in the form of the Bulgarian Ibeilo Ivanov and lost to him in the Ipon.
Nadav Jourt started his day of fights from the second round and there he lost in Vasari and Ipon to Sammy Shushi, the Belgian opponent who just moved up to this weight category after dominating 81 kg. It was too hard a fight for the 21-year-old Israeli judoka who ended his way in the competition.
Daniel Bershadsky met Marcus Nyman from Sweden in the first round and was eliminated due to his opponent’s suspension, so he ended the competition quickly.
up to 100 kg:
Peter Pelchik arrived in excellent form for the home competition and he opened it in the second round with a victory in Vasari over Giorgi Nimaskin from Estonia, so that he qualified for the quarter finals. Pelchik went on to meet the Portuguese Jorge Fonseca and won by tiebreaker at the end of a long and exhausting battle that lasted 11:20 minutes en route to the semi-finals.
Over 100 kg:
Serafim Company, which has stepped into Uri Sasson’s big shoes since he retired, still needs to make his leap up the ladder in order to be able to compete for the tickets that will be distributed to the Olympic Games in Paris. In this competition, he lost by knockout in his very first fight on the mat against Francisco Solis of Chile.