Young Georgian judoka Levan Matiashvili improved his last year’s result – the second place at European Championship in the city of Croatia, Porec. Heavyweighter of Georgian youth judo team held five fights, won all of them and finished European Championship with Georgian anthem.
Matiashvili is the fifth Georgian who wrestled in final of the championship. Other four finalists: Leri Chelidze (55kg), Vazha Margvelashvili (60kg), Pridon Gigani (73kg) and Beka Gviniashvili (81kg) could not win title.
Georgian heavyweighter defeated Hennrich Sildveer of Estonia by waza-ari, Semih Adiyaman of Turkey by waza-ari, Petr Kakovkin of Russia by hantei. In semifinal and final he won over Ukrainian opponents – Andriy Kolesnik by waza-ari and Mykyta Dibrin by ippon. In the decisive fight Matiashvili beat the opponent by yuko.
Yesterday Guram Tushishvili, another member of Georgian team, wrestled on tatami. He won bronze medal. In semifinal Tushishvili lost gold-silver medal chance to future champion Oleg Ishimov of Russia. Before the semifinal Guram Tushishvili defeated Sergio Trilo of Spain, Ivan Stoikov of Bulgaria and Marius Pipke of Germany. In “bronze final” the Georgian won over Nabil Machtrou of France by waza-ari. Rezo Tsulukidze (90kg) and heavyweighter Rostom Khakhaleishvili needed one victory till top 3
Tsulukidze started participation from 1/8 final. He beat David Tekic of Germany by waza-ari and Gergo Fogas of Hungary by ippon. Then he lost two matches in a row to Dutch sportsmen – in semifinal to Mikhail Corel by yuko and in repechage final to Max de Vreeze by ippon and took the fifth place.
In ¼ final Khakhaleishvili lost to Mykyta Dibrin. Son of Olympic champion Davit Khakhaleishvili defeated Habil Zalag of France before this fight. In repechage he beat Vito Dragic of Slovenia by ippon and lost to Andriy Kolesnik.
Yesterday Lasha Taveluri (90kg) and Giorgi Kavtaradze (100kg) wrestled on tatami too. Taveluri lost to future champion Husen Khalmurzaev of Russia in the first round. Kavtaradze won over Vasilie Sipcic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and lost to Toma Nikiforov of Belgium.
The Georgian youth judo team won 1 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals at European Championship. The team took the third place.
Otar Maglakelidze
