“I would have thought everything but I would have never believed that Varlam Liparteliani would be left beyond ¼ final”, - Azerbaijan journalist sitting next to me told me after the end of the fight between Liparteliani and Anthony of Australia. All Georgian fans, judo specialists and sportsmen make the same comment at exhibition center “ExCel”.

Today I arrived at press box and I could choose which seat to take. I sat near Georgian sportsmen. Soon Lasha Shavdatuashvili, Nugzar Tatalashvili, Avtandil Chrikishvili and four fans showed up. They turned out uncles of Varlam Liparteliani. Before the start of the fight, I was introduced to them and we talked a little but we did not say anything about upcoming result. We all believed that Liparteliani would have won medal.

The judoka did not name the reason of failure. He could not overcome nerves and could not use half of his possibilities.

In the first round Varlam Liparteliani beat Dolassem of Cameroon by waza-ari. Of course, we were all satisfied but quality of wrestling made us nervous.

“He is not open” – said one of the Georgians at the beginning of the fight. Liparteliani advanced with yuko but behaved strangely and the opponent defeated him by waza-ari.

We all believed that Liparteliani would have improved the situation in one minute and half. Unfortunately, Liparteliani earned only one yuko and lost chance to wrestle even for bronze medal. We looked at each other surprisingly. After failure of Betkil Shukvani, it was the biggest disappointment for us.

Soon Ilias Iliadis lost his fight to Kirill Denisov of Russia. Here are semifinals:

Denisov – Gonzalez (Cuba)

Song (South Korea) – Camilo (Brazil)
 

Otar Maglakelidze, special correspondent of worldsport.ge from London