World heavyweight champion Guram Tushishvili repeats 2017 victory

Georgian World champion Guram Tushishvili underlined his superiority at the helm of the men’s heavyweight category as he won his second World Judo Masters crown. Tushishvili bombarded double Olympic bronze medallist Rafael Silva (BRA) with attacks and the Brazilian crumbled under the intense onslaught from Georgia’s man of the moment.

Silva, who was targeting his first IJF win since the Tyumen Grand Slam in 2014, was held down with a kami-shiho-gatame for 20 seconds in the last contest on the IJF World Judo Tour for 2018.

In the first semi-final Tushishvili outfought Osaka Grand Slam bronze medallist Kageura Kokoro (JPN) who was given hansoku-make after accumulating three shidos. In the second semi-final Silva threw Tashkent Grand Prix silver medallist Bekmurod Oltiboev (UZB) with an osoto-gari for a waza-ari score and wrapped up a place in the final with a mune-gatame hold.

The first bronze medal was won by former world silver medallist David Moura (BRA) who held down Oltiboev for ippon. World number four Moura saved his best performance of the year for the final competition of the season as he returned to the IJF medal podium for the first time in 2018.                      

The second and last bronze medal contest saw Osaka Grand Slam bronze medallist Tamerlan Bashaev (RUS), who beat Olympic champion Lukas Krpalek (CZE) in his opening contest, defeat Kageura. Russia’s Bashaev threw with a beautiful sode-tsurikomi-goshi to win his first medal at this level and will be a heavyweight to follow in 2019.