Luka Maisuradze made the home crowd proud on Saturday at the European Judo Championships Senior Tbilisi 2026, giving Georgia its third gold medal.
It was a special moment to savour when Maisuradze got the decisive point in the Golden Score.
“Of course, I’m very proud, I’m a double European Champion now,” he said. “But this European Championships was special for me, because I competed in front of the Georgian audience here in Georgia, in my home country. It was extremely emotional.”
In the final, Maisuradze was up against Nemanja Majdov of Serbia, a former World and European Champion.
“I expected this final to be very strong, very tense,” the 2023 World Champion pointed out. “Nemanja Majdov is a great athlete, very successful. It happened, how it happened. It’s a pity that he got injured at the end of this contest but this is Judo. I wish him fast recovery from his injury because he’s a very good athlete and I have a lot of respect for him.”
Each competition, each contest is a learning experience and this championship was no different for Maisuradze. “I learned from this competition to never ever in your life give up and always fight till the end, especially when you are competing in front of your people. In the future I will always fight till the end and never give up, this is the most important thing.”
However, before the next event, it is time to celebrate and Maisuradze’s eyes lit up when asked about what is planned.
“That very difficult to answer. I hope that my friends and my family thought about that already and a restaurant is now booked,” he said, laughing. “But I still don’t know in which restaurant we’ll go and celebrate this amazing victory.”
No matter where it will be, it will be a night to remember for Luka Maisuradze.
Author: Tatjana Flade