It was a tricky begin to the ultimate block on day two of the Rome European Open 2024, with an all-Georgian closing within the -81kg class between Vladimir AKHALKATSI and Irakli BEROSHVILI. It began as a cagey contest, each conscious of the others talents, nevertheless it was Beroshvili that actually dedicated, his timing and placement was good, an enormous koshi guruma scored him ippon! Then all celebration turned unravelled because the replay confirmed that his head had linked with the tatami. It was each a devastating loss and bitter win, Akhalkatsi merely lifted his opponents arm, feeling that he deserved it with the motion.
Within the first half of the -48kg closing between Jaqueline SPRINGER (AUT) and Mireia RODRIGUEZ SALVADOR (ESP), it was very bodily, Springer was on a mission and managed to secured Rodriguez on the bottom to attain waza ari with the osaekomi. The Spanish athlete virtually made a mirror comeback, with a minute left on the clock nonetheless Springer was in a position to escape the maintain. It continued to be a determined contest for Rodriguez however Springer managed the remainder of the competition properly and got here away with a win, her second continental open gold.
From the beginning contest of the day, Kenny Komi BEDEL (ITA) had been carrying the crowds vitality proper to the -90kg closing towards Mark VAN DIJK (NED). Once more, this was a bodily contest from the get go and shortly turned a matter of stress for Van Dijk who picked up two shidos in fast succession. With lower than a minute on the clock, a driving o uchi gari from Bedel put a waza ari on the board, a a lot wanted rating, which appeared to floor him on this tense closing. Then with solely 11 seconds left, he threw away a second shido which may have price him however he cleverly put in an important makikomi try, virtually scoring for a second time earlier than the clock ran down.
There have been fairly just a few prime athletes on this occasion at present that didn’t handle to make it in to the ultimate block, nonetheless one well-known identify did; Mireia LAPUERTA COMAS (ESP). It was Ilaria FINESTRONE (ITA) that might be taking up the dynamic Spanish judoka, and did an important job at calming the competition, and ran it at her personal tempo. Because the pair headed in to golden rating, not one thing we’ve got seen a number of throughout this occasion, Finestrone used the momentum of her opponent who was stepping off the leg of an uchi mata entry, to hook in for ko uchi gake and take the win!
Italy’s success continued within the -100kg class by the hands of Henry Owusu Asare OWUSU. This was one of many hardest fought finals of the occasion, a real psychological check for each Owusu and his opponent, Tim SCHMIDT (GER). It took virtually seven minutes of contest time to resolve the winner of this class, a gruelling golden rating that would have simply gone both method. Schmidt gave his final ounce of vitality, attacking with a driving o uchi gari, however Owusu was in a position to floor it and cease the drive, countering with ko soto gake to take the gold medal.
It was one other nationwide rivalry within the closing block, however this time for Germany within the -57kg class between Jana ZIEGLER and Laila GOEBEL. The latter fell behind within the first half of the competition, ceding two shidos, however didn’t seem deterred by the run of play. Sadly nonetheless, the end result was shido primarily based. With 36 seconds left on the clock, each athletes had been awarded shido for passivity which in fact meant a loss for Goebel on this event.
Concluding the Rome European Open 2024 had been the heavyweight males. Stepping up in to the heavyweight class at present was Gennaro PIRELLI (ITA) and within the closing he confronted Yevheniy BALYEVSKYY (UKR). Pirelli gave a stellar efficiency within the Olympic Video games, notably through the Combined Group occasion, competing towards the perfect heavyweights on the planet together with Alisher YUSUPOV (UZB). That is in fact his return to competitors following his outing in Paris, and in a brand new weight class, however he continued on his method in to the ultimate, and was first to attain, initiating a morote seoi nage, which over rotated, he continued with a kata guruma-style drive for waza ari. In a powerful feat, he staved off his opponent because the clock ran out and received the gold medal.
This gold was added to an unimaginable assortment from Group Italy this weekend who topped the medal desk; six gold, three silver and 13 bronze medals in whole. It was an ideal finish to the European Judo Tour 2024 and we stay up for the 2025 season.
Judoka
Writer: Thea Cowen
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