Nikoloz Sherazadishvili earned his support and Tbilisi gold

The final for men U100kg in Tbilisi was a duel between Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, supported by the public, and a vengeful Shady Elnahas that we witnessed in the final. Big attacks could be expected. Sherazadishvili started as earlier in the day, with some difficulties putting his hands on his opponent's judogi, while Elnahas was attacking more but the Canadian's uchi-mata that came after this observation round was not prepared enough and against an athlete of the caliber of the double world champion, you can’t afford any mistake.

 It was a counter-attack and ippon for Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, who won his fifth grand slam gold medal, but the first of this year after two silvers (Portugal and Paris). This is also his first grand slam gold in his new category; it took some time to find his marks at U100kg. It is now the case, only improvement can be added.

Being a champion is one thing, winning the competition can be another. Facing the Spaniard we found Shady Elnahas (CAN), already a grand slam winner and 10 times a medallist. However, since the 2023 Pan American Games and his beautiful gold medal, Elnahas has not managed to reach a single final block, his best result being a seventh place in Tokyo in December. With the elimination in the first round of the number one seed, his competitor and teammate Kyle Reyes (CAN), Elnahas hit the jackpot today and there is no doubt that he must look towards Paris.

Things were difficult for the double world champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP), but in the end, we will remember that he gave everything, absolutely everything, to reach the final. Each contest was a battle fought against opponents unimpressed by the Spanish champion's incredible record.

Islam Bozbayev (KAZ) and Laurin Boehler (AUT) faced off in the first match for a bronze medal. Even if physically speaking Boehler seemed a little weaker than his opponent, he is the one who scored with a brilliant combination of ko-uchi and o-uchi-gari, a score that he could keep alive until the end to win bronze.

Zsombor Veg (HUN) and Mikheil Japaridze (GEO), who posed a lot of problems for Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, faced each other in the second contest for a bronze medal. Being ranked 123rd in the world Japaridze was obviously the outsider but based on what we witnessed earlier in the day, Veg could expect a difficult contest. Actually, it was not that difficult. With a beautiful sumi-gaeshi Veg scored a first waza-ari, immediately followed with an immobilisation for ippon and a well deserved bronze medal.