Local hope Nijat Shikhalizada produced a superb display to down Great Britain’s Colin Oates in the final of the under 66 kilo category at the Baku
ADVERTISEMENTLocal hope Nijat Shikhalizada produced a superb display to down Great Britain’s Colin Oates in the final of the under 66 kilo category at the Baku Grand Slam on Friday.
The 26-year-old, who took bronze at the Budapest Grand Prix, sealed the win with 43 seconds remaining thanks to a thrilling ippon.
In the under 60 kilo class, Kazakhstan’s Rustam Ibrayev downed Vincent Limare to clinch his first Grand Slam gold medal.
The Dusseldorf Grand Prix bronze medallist scored an early waza-ari and held on for the win as Germany’s Tobias Englmaier and Lukhujmi Chkhvimiani took bronze.
In the women’s event, Romania’s Monica Ungureanu outclassed
Nathalia Brigida of Brazil in the semi-finals before carrying her momentum into the showpiece match with a hard-fought win over Eva Csernoviczki.
Brazil’s Erika Miranda reigned supreme in the under 52 kilo category. The world number three stunned favourite Andreea Chitu in the final thanks to a perfectly executed shime-waza with just over a minute left on the clock.
In the under 57 kilo class, Romania’s Corina Caprioriu kept her composure to down Nekoda Smythe Davis. Fresh from winning in Zagreb, the young British sensation was unable to trouble her opponent and eventually tapped out.
The bronze medals were won by Russia’s Irina Zabludina and Viola Waechter of Germany.