-100 kg: Savytskiy Keeps His Promise

Pool B in Zagreb included Michael Korrel (NED), Daniel Eich (SUI) and -90 kg double world champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP). One of them was likely to find themselves in a semi-final with Savytskiy and, sure enough, it was Eich. Their semi-final stayed close until the last 20 seconds when a koshi-guruma gave the Ukrainian judoka an impassable lead.

On the other side of the draw, Dzhafar Kostoev (UAE) was the man to beat. On the way to the second -100 kg semi-final he defeated world champion Jorge Fonseca (POR), among others, but in the semi-final he came unstuck against Zsombor Veg (HUN).

In the final Anton Savytskiy seemed to have magic in his feet. His ashi-waza work was incredible to watch, especially the ko-soto-gari he used for a first yuko and then a second score which was ippon. His timing, use of combinations and power all came together to produce an outstanding day of judo.

After the final Savytskiy said, "My mentality is always strong and focused to win no matter what. After fighting a tough opponent from Hungary, our second match in two weeks after Abu Dhabi, winning gold in Zagreb again is wonderful; it's a beautiful city with great people. To rise to the top in the tough under -100 kg category takes hard work and doing your best in training. Today I'm the winner but next is the preparation for the World Judo Masters, where I hope to finally win a medal in Tajikistan."

In the first bronze medal contest Kostoev and Sherazadishvili offered an exciting line-up, one which took the spectators in the Zagreb Arena fight to the edge of their seats. In the first four minutes the penalties began to appear, not for the want of positive attacks. Going into gold score each judoka carried two penalties meaning that any slight error could finish the fight.

However, this medal contest did not end tactically but with a massive Uki-goshi from the Spanish judoka. He rolled all the way through the technique and stood up with a huge smile on his face.

In an all-European second bronze medal contest, Piotr Kuczera (POL) and Daniel Eich (SUI) stepped on to the tatami. There wasn't a single shido between them, plenty of clean, positive techniques to keep the crowd engaged.

At a few seconds before the halfway point, the winning technique showed itself. Using perfect rotation, Eich employed a steadfast hiza-guruma to place Kuczera on to his back for ippon.