Turkiye had serious arguments to make on the morning of the last day of competition in Odivelas, with two talented judoka, Ibrahim Tataroglu and Munir Ertug. It is difficult to imagine that Tataroglu is still a cadet, since during the month of August he became cadet world champion in Zagreb. It is just as difficult to imagine that a few months ago he won a bronze medal at the Antalya Grand Slam 2023. He’s a baby, one could say, but a baby of impressive size and ability who today demonstrated that he had everything he needed to be great. He qualified for the final to face Shalya Gureshidze (GEO) from a country whose excellence among heavyweights is never in doubt.
Final, Shalva Gureshidze (GEO) vs Ibrahim Tataroglu (TUR)
Tataroglu threw a first shido away for stepping out of the contest area. More focussed, Gureshidze seemed to be more ready. With the first seoi-otoshi, he scored a waza-ari, followed by an immobilisation for ippon. The gold medal was for Gureshidze to conclude the individual tournament. There must be a special mention for Tataroglu, still a cadet and already in the final of the junior worlds and in a heavyweight category, no less.
Junior world champion, Shalva Gureshidze (GEO)
Bronze medal contest, Munir Ertug (TUR) vs Ramazan Ahmadov (AZE)
Bronze medal contest, Grzegorz Teresinski (POL) vs Giannis Antoniou (CYP)
A tone below but nevertheless efficient, Munir Ertug qualified to fight for the first bronze medal, against Ramazan Ahmadov (AZE). It took the normal time, the golden score and three shido to decide the winner, Munir Ertug, for the second medal for Türkiye in the category.
Bronze medallist, Giannis Antoniou (CYP)
Grzegorz Teresinski (POL) and Giannis Antoniou (CYP) still had a chance to reach the podium. Antoniou was probably the most expected athlete to reach the podium and after a very good competition day, he managed to put in one more effort to counter-attack one of Teresinski’s seoi-nage attacks, that lacked preparation, for waza-ari. A little tactical work later to keep that score and Giannis Antoniou became a junior world championship bronze medallist.
Medal, cheques and flowers were presented by Mr Sergio Pina, President of the Portuguese Judo Federation, and Mrs Sofia Silva E Sousa, Member of the Justice Council of the Portuguese Judo Federation
Bronze Medal Fights (+100 kg)
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