Luka Maisuradze makes his comeback at Euro Open in Rome

Luka Maisuradze is one of the best prospects from Georgia. He is most known for a technique he used to beat teammate Lasha Bekauri in the -90kg final of the 2023 Doha World Championships. It’s a new technique. Some call it a kind of yoko-wakare, some call it tani-otoshi, some just call it the Maisuradze Takedown. He most likely was not the first ever person to do it. Japan’s 1981 World Champion Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki, for example, often taught a move very similar to this (but to the side).

Interestingly, his compatriot Bekauri, had also used something like this in the preliminary rounds of the Doha World’s. So, it’s obviously something the Georgians have been working on. Now, variations of it can be found all over social media, telling you how fast this thing has spread. 

Leading up to Paris 2024, Maisuradze had a World title, a European title, and one IJF World Tour title to his name. Bekauri, on the other hand, was the defending Olympic champion, a European champion and a five-time IJF World Tour champion. Between the two, it would seem that Bekauri was more accomplished, and indeed Bekauri was ranked higher (No. 1 vs Maisuradze’s No. 6). 
However, it was very close. Maisuradze had beaten Bekauri in the 2023 World’s final but Bekauri had beaten Maisuradze in the 2023 IJF World Masters’ final. For a while, it was unclear which player Georgia would send to the 2024 Paris Olympics but that decision was made for them when Maisuradze was suspended for doping. 

The circumstances leading to his suspension was intriguing. JudoInside had noticed that while Bekauri had competed in the 2024 Paris Grand Slam in February, Maisuradze was missing. This despite the fact that he had done well just a few months before at the 2023 Tokyo Grand Slam, where Maisuradze had made it to the final. 

The French judo magazine L'Esprit du Judo, which had also heard rumours of Maisuradze’s suspension, contacted the International Judo Federation (IJF), which, in an e-mail response, "does not deny that the athlete is ineligible until October 2024." 
During a doping control conducted by the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency on April 12, 2023, Ostarine, a non-steroidal anabolic agent that promotes muscle mass gain, recovery improvement, and weight loss, was detected. Maisuradze claimed he did not know that dietary supplements taken just before the test, had contained Ostarine. In its judgment, the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency cited negligence on the part of Maisuradze and his rehabilitator, who allegedly advised Maisuradze to take these products to improve his concentration. Consequently, Maisuradze was suspended until October 16, 2024.

Maisuradze’s compatriot Bekauri was sent to the Olympics and won the gold medal – his second – for Georgia. Now that he is able to compete again, Maisuradze surely wants to prove his mettle in the -90kg class. It’s understood that his first comeback competition will be the 2024 Rome European Open which will be held from Nov 9 to 10. It’s not a big competition but it’s the only significant one for him to compete in before the 2024 Tokyo Grand Slam, the last leg of the IJF World Tour this year.