Michael Korrel again a class on his own in Abu Dhabi

The favorites had contrasting destinies throughout the day. Among the smiling destinies, that of Michael Korrel (NED), number one seed, who managed to avoid all the traps to reach another final on the World Judo Tour, his ninth in fact. At the very end of the competition, it was the Netherlands who finished in first place, ahead of France and Germany, with the Emirates following closely behind, while the four countries each won two titles.

After a first bye, he won against Nathaniel Keeve (USA) on a thunderous o-soto-gari valued ippon without possible discussion. In the semi-final, it was Dzhakhongir Madzhidov (TJK) who paid the price of Korrel's rolling seoi-otoshi. Ippon again.

In the second part of the draw, we could logically expect a great performance from the former world champion (Doha 2023) Arman Adamian, who started his tournament well by defeating Mikheil Japaridze (GEO) on osae-komi-waza. In the next round, Adamian got the better of Adilet Sapargaliyev (KAZ), and it was on the ground again. The semi-final contest was expected to be tough and close, and it was, since it was finally after 7:42 minutes that Balalov finally found an opportunity with a small ashi-waza that hit the mark and threw Adamian onto his back for an ippon.

The final therefore pitted Michael Korrel in great form against the no-less spectacular Bilalov. On one side there was the huge experience of Korrel at that level and on the other, the power of Bilalov which has increased throughout the day. The normal time did not help the two judoka to decide the winner. Golden score had to be the judge. Korrel who had been waiting for the right moment chose to attack with a powerful ashi-guruma turned into makikomi that scored waza-ari. This is gold medal number 6 in a grand slam for the dutch champion and his 15th medal in a grand slam. 

Arman Adamian (IJF) could still hope to climb onto the podium by facing Nate Keeve (USA) for the bronze medal. It didn't take too much time for him to score a first waza-ari with a sutemi-waza, and to double the score a few seconds later with a uchi-mata that left no chance to Keeve.

Simeon Catharina (NED) and Dzhakhongir Madzhidov (TJK) fought it out to complete the podium and Catharina despite his efforts could do nothing against Madzhidov who scored twice with waza-ari (sumi-gaeshi and o-goshi) to win a new medal for Tajikistan.

Abu Dhabi is launching a new series of grand slams that will end in four years in Los Angeles. For three days, we discovered a new generation of champions who are building their future.