Mammadali Mehdiyev wins second Grand Slam

Already second in Paris less than two weeks ago, the Azeri Mammadali Mehdiyev, seeded number one in Tel Aviv, is in good shape for sure, evidenced by his entry into the final once again. If Nemanja Majdov of Serbia was not among the big favourites of the competition, he is not a stranger, since he was world champion in 2017 in Budapest. Since May 2019, he had not entered the final of a grand slam though. Here he is back at the highest level and that is good news.

These athletes totally neutralised themselves during normal time and had to enter the golden score period with one shido a piece, which was doubled a fews seconds later.

No more mistakes allowed! It took over two minutes of extra time for Mehdiyev to finally find a way to throw his opponent. He did it well indeed, with a powerful counterattack. Majdov who prior to that had been really careful, didn't pay attention and while he was trying to grab Mehdiyev, the latter immediately turned and threw him with ura-nage; no discussion! This was ippon.

Jesper Smink (NED), winner of the first Grand Prix Portugal, at the very start of the season, is again present in the final block, against Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (CUB), seventh in Paris at the beginning of the month, for a place on the podium. After an intense match, where even though the two athletes were penalised with two shido apiece, it was Ivan Felipe Silva Morales who won the medal with a waza-ari scored from an o-uchi-gari.

Mihael Zgank (TUR) and Erlan Sherov (KGZ) battled for the second bronze medal. Having just a shido to his name, Mihael Zgank did not panic and scored a first waza-ari with soto-makikomi. It took him two attempts to conclude with an immobilisation for ippon. This is the third medal in a grand slam for Mihael Zgank.