Kazakh cadets impressive U55kg with gold for Nurlan Isataev

In the U55 kg category of the Cadet World Championships in Zagreb only the third of the top four in the rankings made it to the final. Nurlan Isataev (KAZ) won golds in Kazakhstan and Georgia earlier this year, really showing his class. He arrived in Zagreb ready to grapple and grapple he did. It was full contact Judo throughout the day.

Isataev’s teammate, Baizak didn’t have a bad day either, beginning as the 7th seed and eventually taking out the category number two, Mivovan (FRA) in the quarter-final. The Frenchman was not happy and struggled to refind his form for the later contests of the day, winning the repechage final only after an uncertain golden score period with Yang (USA).

Oralbek Baizak (KAZ) took bronze against Marko Jorgic (SRB) to join his world champion teammate on the podium.

Mivovan went a waza-ari down against Iskandarov (AZE) early in the bronze medal contest. Neither athlete expected to be in that fight, the Azeri particularly, arriving as the world number one, gold medals in his kit bag from the Zagreb European Cup, Goygol and the Europeans this year. The Frenchman didn’t make it easy for him to hold his lead either and equalised with a minute to go. The determination of both judoka was quite something and they showed the kind of will and persistence that will be needed as they climb the age categories. However, only one could take the medal and it was Iskandarov with a second score being awarded for a perfectly timed ko-soto-gake.

Isataev spent the final hunting techniques at close quarters but the Georgian, Samadashvili, who had beaten the world number one in the semi-final stage, was also pretty handy with the pick-ups. Isataev held his nerve and continued to create chances. His strategy paid off and he became world cadet champion, throwing for waza-ari in the golden score period.

The first day closed with Kazakhstan leading the medal table, but only just. A gold, a silver and a bronze each for Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, a 5th and two 7th places making the difference. Slovakia sit in 3rd place, incredibly, with their first world champion and an additional 5th place.