Judo of Russia participates in the qualification in Paris: Adamyan and Tosoev are ready

The International Judo Federation allowed our athletes to the World Championship as AIN – Athletes lndividuels Neutres. The flag is the World Cup. The start couldn’t be a cakewalk. A long wait to enter international competitions, nerves, extra emotions – all this affected. Most of the tournament passed without a result, ten sets of awards have already found their owners, and Doha saw the struggle of our athletes, but not the desired result.

When in Qatar, for example, the fate of medals in the largest category for men (58 athletes) 90 kg and in the weight 70 kg (49 participants) for women was decided, Russian judokas did not have enough sports luck. The first failure befell the European champion, the owner of the gold of the Grand Slam tournament in Mongolia, Mikhail Igolnikov, he lost to his opponent already in the opening match. And the heroine of the Olympic Games in Tokyo Madina Taimazova and Mansur Lorsanov reached the quarterfinal stage.

The fights of the owner of the bronze medals of the Olympic Games in Tokyo and two European Championships Madina Taymazova were spectacular. In the second round, Madina defeated her opponent ahead of schedule with crown throws. Taimazova’s next opponent was two-time junior world champion Ai Tsunoda, who is also the daughter of a Japanese coach who has been working with the Russian national team since 2022. Madina did not spare the coach’s family feelings. But in the quarterfinals, she met with the German Giovanna Scochimarro: two remarks made Madina take risks, the opponent’s counterattack led to defeat. In the fight for bronze, Madina fought to the end, managed to get out of the hold, but sports luck turned out to be on the side of her opponent.

Adamyan changes tactics

And yet, the day before the end of the individual tournament (and our team did not participate in the team part), the victory came. Arman Adamyan won the world championship in the weight category up to 100 kg! And Adamyan won against an opponent who is called a great judoka.

Lukasz Krpalek is a European, World and Olympic champion. And he received these titles like a blueprint in two different weight categories: up to 100 kg and over 100 kg. Arman Adamyan had never met Krpalek on the mat before Qatar. But the European champion, the triumphant of three Grand Slam tournaments in Zagreb, Paris and Abu Dhabi, understood that he had to actively impose his struggle. The main time of the bout ended for Krpalek with two remarks. And in extra time, our judoka continued to put pressure, forcing the opponent to receive a third warning.

Experts admitted that it was possible to win against the famous Krpalek in different ways. Arman loves a bright, beautiful, spectacular fight, but he changed his tactics, did not give free rein to his emotions. This is an athlete who knows how to rebuild and keep his will in his fist, following the instructions of the coaches.

Adamyan became the second world heavyweight champion in Russian history. It happened 12 years after the triumphant victory of Tagir Khaibulaev in Paris. And this also takes time: to understand that you have won. That’s why Adamyan said after the award: I still can’t realize that I became the world champion, I have never experienced such sensations. And he admitted that he was preparing very seriously, he was in perfect shape at the World Championships. “Lukash is a legend, he was able to win everything in his career, but I also went to Doha to win, I only needed gold: I was the European champion, became the world champion.” (Bronze medalists in this category were Zelim Kotsoev from Azerbaijan and Israel’s Peter Palchik. Olympic medalist and world championship medalist Niyaz Ilyasov lost to Palchik in the quarterfinals of the tournament.)

Riner is back

And the next day, heavyweight Inal Tasoev became the silver medalist of the World Judo Championship. Got upset. How else? In the final, Inal fought against the now 11-time winner of the world championships in personal fights, three-time Olympic champion Teddy Riner. And he showed the most titled athlete in the history of judo not just resistance, but lost, according to many, very controversially.

Yes, after a long absence, the same Teddy Riner returned to the World Championship, whose undefeated series of fights of 154 victories lasted from 2010 to 2020. And a year later, Riner lost in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games in Tokyo to our Tamerlan Bashaev, who told how he was preparing at the training camp for the meeting with Riner. The coaches were sure that Teddy would have to “pass” in the fight for gold at the Games, so they specially selected sparring partners for the Frenchman’s physique.

All sparring partners were called to the gathering – tall right-handers – complete copies of Riner. It was for them that certain tactics, throws and movements were prepared. Everything worked. And in Tokyo, Tamerlane defeated the Frenchman, but both eventually received the bronze of the Olympic Games. (Although Riner still became the Olympic champion in Tokyo – in the mixed team competition.)

Teddy Riner missed the last world championships. In pre-Olympic Doha, the 34-year-old returned. There are many titled judokas in the heavyweight category, but experts agreed on one thing: at the World Championships, it was Bashaev and Tasoev who were the main competitors of the Frenchman. But Tamerlan Bashaev did not make it to the final this time. And in the fight with Inal Tasoev, it came to extra time, stretching for three minutes. Tasoev managed to catch Riner on the counterattack and roll him across the tatami. But – the judges left the action without evaluation. Riner threw Inal through himself, having achieved the long-awaited assessment.

The President of the Russian Judo Federation, Sergey Soloveichik, who probably feels the same feelings as everyone who supported Tasoev in this fight, said that it is not customary in judo to comment on the decisions of judges: they are always right. “But we saw the throw, which means Riner fell.”

Approximately in the same vein, Inal himself reacted to the outcome of the fight, for whom this world championship was the second in his adult career. He admitted: when he left his opponent in extra time, and the assessment was canceled, he thought it was a mistake. But later, as is customary in judo, he showed himself to be a diplomat, suggesting that silver is the motivation for a further goal.

Step by step

Russia today is bad in sports. If in some sports the rights to international performances are given away, then unacceptable conditions for participation are put forward. Cancellation of tournaments, boycotts of athletes and countries, a sieve of selection by commissions, as a result of which what happened to fencers happens: there are no names familiar to the world on the lists of admitted people.

Did our judokas have to participate in the World Championship? Should I agree to the criteria? Yes, all the leaders ended up at the World Championships, but the elimination, based on the criteria of the IOC, causing protest and rejection, was carried out by the international federation, excluding one athlete and seven members of the delegation from the application. And sports Russia has yet to decide what to do next, what decisions to make, starting from the situation with the criteria, given their different implementation by different federations.

In the meantime, the president of the Russian Judo Federation, Sergei Soloveichik, believes that at the World Championships, athletes believed that there was an opportunity to qualify and participate in the Olympic Games. Fifteen months without starts completed. “The most important thing is that our guys perform and win medals.”

In Moscow, the golden Adamyan, while the medalists of the World Championship flew in separately, were greeted with posters and flowers. When there was an impressive applause at his appearance, the champion clutched his head with a smile. And then he said: in the morning, he nevertheless realized that the dream had come true, I was going for the next one.

Sergei Soloveichik is sure that the result of his performance at the World Championships can be considered good. Those who did not reach the prize places fought with dignity. Although the motivation of our judokas was not what it should be because of the cancellation of start after start. And, despite the fact that the leaders of Russia spoke in a neutral status, these are Russian medals. “The time will come, and we will perform under the Russian flag, our anthem will be played,” the head said in a commentary to RIA Novosti.

Our judoists have opened the way to the selection for the Olympic Games. How it will go further, where it will end, no one can say. But each of the team members can repeat what Tamerlan Bashaev admitted in Tokyo 2020: he would like to meet Riner again in Paris 2024. And I would fight him every day and progress as a judoka, in order to become the best, you need to fight the best. Whether the Olympic Games will open the way for us, the answer will be given in the summer.