Events Details

Korea won their second gold medal through Dae-nam Song to move joint top of the judo medal table alongside Russia. With its 200 national federation members, 135 participating countries here in London and 22 countries awarded so far, Judo continues to prove its universality.

ROUND BY ROUND

Outsider Song Dae-Nam took the -90kg category with a fine display of all round judo skills. On a day when none of the top four seeds could make it past the quarter final stage it was left to South Korean to show his varied throwing skills. “I came here hoping to win a medal, any medal to be honest. But I’m delighted that it all came right for me today and to win my country’s second gold. I’m 33 years old now so with this win I’ll be calling it a day now.”

First Round

Ilias Iliadis GRE began his campaign for a second Olympic medal with a first round win scoring waza ari with koshi guruma against Milan Randl SVK. “I knew that it would be a tough match” said the Slovakian. “I’d beaten him in the past when I’d been able to fight more aggressively, attacking more. But today I did not manage to repeat this” added Randl. Next came Karolis Bauza LTU who threw Romain Buffet FRA for waza ari with te guruma. Russia’s Kiril Denisov RUS looks fit and well prepared in throwing Ivan Remarenco MDA with tai otoshi for ippon. Alexandre Emond CAN may be forgiven for being slightly overwhelmed by the reception given by the expectant crowd to Winston Gordon GBR. The Londoner threw Emond with a huge harai goshi for ippon giving the home fans something to cheer for. Emond said “I feel pretty bad. It’s not what I expected. I came here with hope. The crowd didn’t affect me; I was in the zone.” Varlam Liperteliani GEO fought a very a surprisingly strong Dieudonne Dolassem CMR, the Georgian finding it difficult to break his man down and winning on the back of three penalties. Asley Gonzalez CUB threw Hector Campos ARG for ippon with morote seoi nage. Kone Knappeya Romeo CIV was thrown for ippon with yoko otoshi by  Dimitri Gerasimenko SRB. Nishiyama Masashi JPN threw beautifully with ko uchi gari for waza ari to eliminate Chingiz Mamedov KGZ. Hesham Besbah EGY was disappointing in being thrown for ippon with te guruma by Timur Bolat KAZ. Elkhan Mamedov AZE defeated Cristophe Lambert GER by shido. Song Dae-Nam KOR armlocked Juan Romero URU. Dilshod Choriev UZB defeated Marcus Nyman SWE. Tiago Camilo BRA threw Roman Gontiuk UKR with left tai otoshi for ippon. The last match of the opening round went into golden score where Roberto Meloni ITA overcame Parviz Sobirov TJK.

Second Round

Ilias Iliadis GRE looked less than convincing in his defeat of Karolis Bauza LTU. Kiril Denisov RUS threw Winston Gordon GBR for yuko with uchi mata to bring the Briton’s brave effort to an end. Varlam Liperteliani GEO began his second round match strongly throwing Australia’s Mark Anthony for yuko seoi nage. The Australian then countered a Liperteliani attack with ura nage for waza ari to cause a shock in the category and knock out the No. 4 seed. Asley Gonzales CUB defeated Dimitri Gerasimenko SRB whilst Nishiyama Masashi JPN progressed to the quarter final by throwing Timur Bolat KAZ for yuko with sasae tsuri komi ashi. Elkhan Mamadov AZE was thrown for waza ari with seoi nage by Song Dae-Nam.  Dilshod Choriev UZB threw Madarasz Tamas HUN for ippon with ko soto gake leaving Tiago Camilo BRA to close out the round by throwing Roberto Meloni ITA with o soto gari for ippon.

Quarter Finals

Number one seed Ilias Iliadis GRE was upset by Russia’s Kirill Denisov who threw the Greek for 2 yuko first with harai goshi and then with yoko sutemi waza. Mark Anthony’s AUS was defeated by Asley Gonzalez CUB. Japanese hopes for a first male gold medal ended when Nishiyama Masashi was thrown first for yuko then for waza ari with morote seoi nage by Song Dae-Nam KOR. Nishiyama scored waza ari with o soto gari but could not pull the match back. Dilshod Choriev UZB was defeated by Tiago Camilo BRA bringing the quarter finals to a close.

Repechage Contests

Fighting in the repechage was not what Ilias iliadis GRE had come to London for. But Iliadis gave us a flash of brilliant best when he threw Mark Anthony AUS for ippon with sode tsuri komi goshi to put him in a bronze medal match. Nishiyama Masashi JPN faced Dilshod Choriev UZB in the second repechage contest. The match went into golden score, both fighters having received penalties. It was Nishiyama who won the contest by hantei.

Semi Finals

Kirill Denisov RUS was seeking to add to Russia’s medal tally but against Cuban Asley Gonzalez he came ustuck when, with just 22 seconds left, Gonzalez put in a lightning fast tai otoshi throwing the Russian for ippon. Song Dae-Nam KOR began his semi final sharply by throwing Tiago Camilo BRA with ippon seoi nage for waza ari. The Korean remained strong throughout the contest and Camilo was unable to close the gap.

Bronze Medal Matches

Ilias Iliadis GRE faced the Olympic bronze medalist from Beijing Tiago Camilo BRA in the first of the bronze medal matches. The Brazilian looked slightly under par and was unable to generate any real scoring opportunities picking up a shido along the way. This was all that separated the pair in the end and Iliadis had his second Olympic medal. “I worked for four years hoping that I would win the gold medal. I won a large number of tournaments during this period. But today when I really needed to be at my best it just didn’t happen” said Iliadis. Nishiyama Masashi JPN faced Kirill Denisov RUS. The match went into golden score where Nishiyama won by hantei.

Final

Asley Gonzalez CUB faced Song Dae-Nam KOR. The match went into golden score where after only ten seconds Song threw the Cuban with a superb ko uchi gake for ippon.

FINAL RESULTS

1. SONG, Dae-Nam (KOR)
2. GONZALEZ, Asley (CUB)
3. ILIADIS, Ilias (GRE)
3. NISHIYAMA, Masashi (JPN)
5. CAMILO, Tiago (BRA)
5. DENISOV, Kirill (RUS)
7. ANTHONY, Mark (AUS)
7. CHORIEV, Dilshod (UZB)

Courtesy:
IJF Media & Communication Department