Jorge Fonseca wins battle of the world champions

We know that Jorge Fonseca is a showman and he proved it again in the final but in a very respectful way. It becomes a habit, a good one for him, less pleasing for others; once again, the double world champion Jorge Fonseca (POR) qualified for the final in Antalya. The Portuguese judoka always impresses. A real unbreakable block, he shows incomparable power while being a fine technician, often perfectly placed. This combination of strength and technique makes him close to unbeatable. An important question nevertheless was on everyone's lips before the final, since we were happy to find Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP) there.

Which world champion would prevail? Since his change of category, the Spanish U90kg world champion has struggled, not finding his marks and being quickly eliminated in Portugal and Paris. From his first matches today, we felt that it was a new Nikoloz on the tatami. Precise, powerful and incisive, he passed one round after another without shaking, to face the Fonseca wall in the final.

Fonseca was immediately in action against Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, he forced the Spanish champion to be penalised twice. The power of Fonseca seemed unstoppable and it actually was. Smaller than his opponent, he didn't hesitate to attack the back leg to make Sherazadishvili react and drop under the centre of gravity for a seoi-nage masterpiece for ippon. Today there are two world champions in the final; one won and it was Fonseca, who seemed more and more unbeatable.

Rafael Buzacarini (BRA) produced effective judo to qualify for the first match for a bronze medal against Aleksandar Kukolj (SRB). Just before the last minute, Kukolj took the lead with a tani-otoshi for waza-ari, an advantage that he kept until the end of the match to win the medal, the sixth medal in a grand slam for the Serbian judoka.

For the second bronze medal we found an old regular in the final block, Elmar Gasimov (AZE), against the young Kyle Reyes (CAN). Reyes was very close to scoring, but the following action was to the credit of Gasimov, with a massive harai-goshi for ippon. It's been a while since we saw Gasimov on a podium. The last time was in Düsseldorf in 2020, when he was a finalist.