World ranked number one judoka Tato Grigalashvili won the World Championships in Tashkent. The European champion, runner-up of last year in Budapest, had an appointment with the World Champion who beat him in Budapest, Matthias Casse. It turned in an epic fight, the best of the tournament so far.
The Georgian has learned to control his impulses and no longer wastes energy before fighting. That shows intelligence and excellent coaching work. For his part, Casse is no longer always the patient man who waits, now he also knows when and how to attack. As a result, we had a high-carat final, very tactical, with outstanding technique and with two men using their full arsenal.
Grigalashvili’s only weak point is physical because he suffers after a few minutes, but he makes up for it with a newly acquired cold blood. In golden score the Georgian attacked, Casse responded, it was a final that marks an era, even better than the previous year. In addition to being very robust, very powerful, Matthias has also improved his judo and he is a world champion who honours his title.
Grigalashvili’s offence did not change his strategy; along the way he did get a second shido against none for the Belgian. It was a fight to record and watch many times, to show it in the dojos, to enjoy judo at its best. There had to be a winner and a loser and everything was decided in the fourth minute of extra time when Grigalashvili’s forces seemed to abandon him. Later we understood that he was bluffing and had an ace up his sleeve in the form of a stratospheric waza-ari, an ippon in the making of it wasn’t for the agility of Casse. The teenager has become an adult, but to win a world title in the best final in recent years, you need a monumental opponent and Casse was it. The good thing for judo is that they are called to see each other many more times in the future and if they are able to produce this level of judo, we don’t even want to think about what they can do next. It will be better to enjoy it when the time comes.
