David Moura eyes Worlds challenge after maiden Grand Slam success

The eighth Grand Slam medal for Brazilian David Moura was finally of the golden variety as he conquered former Tokyo Grand Slam silver medallist Levani Matiashvili of Georgia in an entertaining men’s heavyweight final.

Moura and Matiashvili were fighting to break into the elite ranks alongside Olympic and world medallists but both have their hands full on to earn international selections with depth at the domestic heavyweight levels in Brazil and Georgia. The heavyweights shook each other with osoto-gari attacks but for no score and were eventually separated in golden score when the Georgian received a second shido to finish second and put Moura onto the top of the podium.

In the first semi-final Moura defeated Mongolia’s Rio 2016 Olympic flagbearer Battulga Temuulen (MGL) by ippon with a left-sided uchi-mata. In the second semi-final European U23 Championships bronze medallist Uladzislau Tsiarpitski of Belarus lost out to Matiashvili by a waza-ari.

The first bronze medal was won by 2016 Tyumen Grand Slam winner Andrey Volkov (RUS) who delivered a buzzer-beating waza-ari which was awarded in time and spared both men from golden score. The second and last bronze medal contest saw Battulga work his way past Baku Grand Slam silver medallist Bor Barna (HUN) by a waza-ari score to delight the huge group of travelling Mongolian fans in the upper tier at the Palace of Sports.