Today in Baku at the World Judo Championships, the Mixed Team competition is about more than medals. It’s about team spirit, unity and athletes fighting not just for themselves, but for each other.
In the semi-final, Japan went up against the People’s Republic of China and UCHIMURA earned Japan an early lead.
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Double World Champion MURAO continued their momentum with another ippon.
ARAI executed a lovely turn over and held Japan into the final. After last year’s team bronze, could Japan reclaim their title?
The other semi-final was between Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation.
An early ippon from AHADOV put Uzbekistan in the lead. LISHCHENKO evened the score with a yuko. MURTOZOEV took the score 2 – 1. But RECHKALOVA forced a submission. 2 – 2.
TASOEV scored big, sending his team into the lead. AMINOVA equalised to 3 – 3, forcing a Golden Score contest. +90kg was drawn!
TASOEV didn’t disappoint, throwing for ippon a second time to put his team into their first ever mixed team final.
In the final, tensions were high with the mixed team gold medal on the line.
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In the first contest, a yuko was enough for TANAKA Shiho to push Japan into an early lead. MURAO Sanshiro was up next and continued the momentum. 2 – 0 to Japan. Mao ARAI continued the trend to take Japan to 3 – 0.
Tamerlan BASHAEV flipped the script to earn a win for his team. But OMORI Akari clinched the title with her win, claiming an eighth Team gold for Japan.
International Judo Federation President Mr Marius VIZER awarded the gold trophy.
CEO of Harvest Group Mr Almaz Alsenov awarded the silver trophy.