Noel van 't End learns to win at Samsun Grand Prix

Noel VAN T END (NED) once again entered the final of a World Judo Tour event, confirming his top seed position. Already the winner of the Qingdao Grand Prix last year, and second in Abu Dhabi and in Baku (both are Grand Slams), the Dutch fighter demonstrated all of his talent today on the Turkish tatami. In the final, he was probably expecting to meet his teammate, Guillaume ELMONT, but he was defeated in the preliminary rounds. Thus VAN T END faced the silver medallist of the Zagreb Grand Prix 2014, Aleksandar KUKOLJ (SRB).

The first attack came from VAN T END after a few second with one-hand-shoulder movement for no score. Continuing to attack, he made his opponent being penalised for passivity. KUKOLJ was again penalised for a gripping error. Just after half of the final had elapsed, VAN T END concluded the first real opportunity with a ko-uchi-gari for waza-ari, which was actually transformed into a yuko by the video refereeing.

Noel VAN T END said: “I am really happy of my competition day. Everything went well. It’s good to be back on the top of the podium. I had the pressure to be the top seeded athlete of the category, but actually that didn’t bother me at all. It was even an extra motivation. After Düsseldorf where I didn’t perform, this is a very good result for me.“

The first bronze medal fight saw the winner of the 2013 Tashkent Grand Prix, Sherali JURAEV (UZB) and the bronze medallist of the European Championships in 2013, Karolis BAUZA (LTU), fighting for a place on the podium. As none of the fighters were able to score anything, the victory went to Sherali JURAEV by a penalty. The Dutch judoka did not take too much time to add a second yuko with his homemade one-hand-seoi-nage to add a first victory to his prize list in 2015.

The second bronze medal fight opposed Islam BOZBAYEV (KAZ) and Li KOCHMAN (ISR). Both athletes were not among the favourites of the category. After one minute and 10 seconds, BOZBAYEV produced his first effort with a morote-seoi-nage, which started from a distance, but concluded with a yuko. Then the Kazakh was penalised with a shido for stepping outside of the fighting area, after having already received a first penalty for passivity. The situation started to become a little complicated when BOZBAYEV received a third penalty with one minute and 27 seconds remaining on the clock, but a superb action-reaction ippon-ko-uchi gari for waza-ari, gave him a bit of fresh air. The last thirty seconds were very difficult for the Kazakh, but he could maintain his advantage.