Clarisse Agbegnenou overwhelmed Karolina Talach of Poland with a trademark ouchi Gari to earn her an eighth Grand Prix title of her career.
ADVERTISEMENTDay two of the Tbilisi Grand Prix saw Clarisse Agbegnenou become our woman of the day.
The reigning World Champion was on electric form. And after a beautiful ouchi gari in her first match, she then threw and held down Brazil’s Yanka Pascoalino on her way to the final.
There she faced Karolina Talach of Poland, yet again it was an ouchi gari that earned her an eighth grand prix title of her career. Ouchi gari is a technique once perfected by her coach, the legendary Lucie Decosse.
Agbegnenou said: "Everybody told me 'it's because of Lucie Decosse that you did an ouchi gari.' And I said 'no, I didn't do it because of Lucie Decosse.' At training in France I throw a lot with ouchi and ko uchi gari because I'm more relaxed and I can do a lot of things. Then I said 'well, if I can throw a lot at training so I should do this technique at the competition.' So I tried and it was nice, I could throw with this technique, so I'm really happy about that."
Our man of the day was Lasha Shavdatuashvili, the Georgian 2012 Olympic champion looked back to his best as he powered his way to the final with some impressive judo. Among this was a Juji gatame armlock against Switzerland’s Nils Stump and an excellent foot sweep leading to a hold down in the semi final.
His team mate Phridon Gigani was his opponent in the final. Having gone a waza-ari ahead, Shavdatuashvili benefited from a third and final penalty to Gigani, earning him the win and the gold medal. As his family in the crowd cheered him on.
“Yes I was so motivated today, said Shavdatuashvili. "Even more than usual because some members of my family were here. Being here at home also was another reason I felt so good today. And we can celebrate this all together, all my family, not only my family, but also all the judo family in Georgia.”
Georgian fans had more to cheer about as they watched history made when Mariam Tchanturia took an emotional bronze medal at -70kg. She is the youngest-ever medalist from Georgia on the IJF World Judo Tour at just 17 years of age.
There was another Gold for France at -70kg as Marie Eve Gahie took top spot.
Georgia made it four golds in four male weights as Tamazi Kirakozashvili topped the -81kg podium.
Our move of the day was a sensational Ura nage counter attack by Russia’s Stanislav Semenov, with both men completely airborne.