2024-04-04 20:31:25
The Grand Slam tournament in Antalya marked two finals for Azerbaijani judokas. He showed that despite the absence of the first numbers of the national team, the competition in each weight is quite high. And athletes who have only recently begun their path to the elite are gaining more and more confidence.
As İdman.biz reports, in the category up to 90 kg a rather interesting situation has developed, since in it we have almost three equivalent athletes: Murad Fatiyev, Eldzhan Gadzhiev and Vugar Talibov. The latter is, of course, more experienced, however, both Gadzhiev and Talibov also add stability. The latter recently opened his account of his medals in the World Tour, winning bronze at the Grand Slam in Baku, and in Antalya he already reached the final. At the same time, he showed a rich arsenal of techniques, either winning with ippon or throwing his opponent into “waza-ari”. Therefore, Talibov completed some fights ahead of schedule, like the 1/8 final match against Aram Grigoryan (UAE) and Ivan Morales (Cuba). In the semi-finals he beat Paris Grand Slam winner Michael Zganc (Turkey), reaching his first senior final.
In the decisive battle, Vugar fought the Japanese Sanshiro Murao, as noted in his review and the website of the International Federation. He even earned a mark, but the victory went to his opponent, who has been performing at a high level for many years. However, Talibov’s performance suggests that he has great prospects and is already becoming an extremely inconvenient opponent for many leaders.
In turn, Rashid Mamedaliev (73 kg) competed in his second final this year. Moreover, with the same opponent. We are talking about Adil Osmanov, who plays for Moldova. Judokas share a friendship, but during fights it fades into the background. During the tournament, our judoka won several bright victories, including over the Grand Slam winner, Masters finalist Shahram Akhadov (Uzbekistan) in the quarterfinals.
The final was a repeat of the recent decisive battle of the Austrian Grand Prix. The only difference is that Rashid was the first to open the scoring, but missed a shot from Osmanov. In this sense, the result was somewhat offensive, since our judoka could claim victory.
In any case, in the category up to 73 kg there is again increased internal competition. Yes, Hidayat Heydarov’s class is undeniable, but Mamedaliev shows with his performance that you can also count on him.
More could be expected from the heavyweights, but both Ushangi Kokauri and Jamal Gamzathanov did not advance beyond the 1/8 finals. Definitely, the +100 kg category continues to be unstable for us, but here, as they say, you can’t guess.
In the overall Grand Slam standings, the Japanese team confirmed its leadership, winning 5 gold, one silver and two bronze medals. France is in second place (3-1-2), and Canada is in third (1-2-0). While our team ended up in the top eight with two silver medals. In total, judokas from 22 countries distinguished themselves at the tournament.
Zaki Feyzullaev
İdman.biz