Uzbekistan enjoys golden moment at Tashkent Grand Prix

By Euronews

Published on 07/10/2017 - 21:18

There was action aplenty on day two of the Tashkent Judo Grand Prix 2017.

Woman of the day

Our woman of the day Gulnoza Matniyazova of Uzbekistan. The defending champion retained her crown in emphatic fashion, gaining a submission from her Danish opponent by way of a strangulation technique. The home crowd had their gold and they celebrated with their champion as the Uzbek national anthem rang out around the stadium. A proud moment for Matniyazova and Uzbekistan!

A delighted Matniyazova said: “First of all, I’m very thankful for the first place finish. I have worked very hard, and trained a lot. I want to thank my coaches for teaching me my techniques, and pushing me in training. They are the reason I am here today.”

Man of the day

Our man of the day was Israel’s Sagi Muki, he took on Mongolia’s Dagvasuren Nyamsuren in the final. After two minutes into golden score – sudden death, Muki struck with a huge hip throw to score waza ari and end the contest!

Muki celebrated a first win on the IJF World Tour since moving up a weight category to under 81kg!
A perfect end to a gruelling contest, and well appreciated by a judo loving home crowd.

“The last fight was really long and the golden score too. We both were tired but I’m happy I could attack in the right moment and throw the opponent. He was strong and tough, everybody is strong in this category. Now I need to built myself. I’m happy everything was connected today for me. I feel good.”

Austria’s Kathrin Unterwurzacher took on Hannah Martin of the USA in the -63kg final. After taking her opponent to the ground, Unterwurzacher secured a pin and secured the win, giving the world No3 her second grand prix victory of 2017. Unterwurzacher back on top after a disappointing world championships.

Uzbekistan’s Giyosjon Boboev faced Zhansay Smagulov of Kazakhstan in the -73kg final, but the home fans would be disappointed after an innovative combination attack by the Kazak scored a sensational ippon and gave Smagulov his first win on the IJF World Judo Tour for over two years!