It’s not so often that we see a lot of emotion from the male judoka after a win, but for Arman ADAMIAN, it was a very emotional finish as he interviewed after becoming the World bronze medallist in Budapest 2025.
After I won the 2023 World Championships, there were many negative comments about me in social media, as the months went by it was more and more. I knew of course that Matvey would grow, and it made me go down in this two years. Of course I want to believe in myself and use every opportunity to show that I am on the top. I won the worlds two years ago and it was not an easy competition for me, I was the leader of the category and I remain in the list of top judoka. All of that emotion came out after I won the medal, it was a relief that I was able to prove myself.
It was a tough day in 2023 and again in 2025, this weight category is always strong and on this occasion, Adamian needed to tackle the Olympic Champion, Zelym KOTSOIEV (AZE).
I thought, he is tired, I understood that I wass leading with the waza ari, and then in this position I didn’t think I’d be thrown, but after I fell, I realised in that moment I could catch him and secure the hold. I made a nice video repost.. thank you!
Kotsoiev reacted too slowly, it looked as if he thought he had scored ippon,
Yes, I think this is what happened, I heard the coach from Azerbaijan shout ippon and I knew it was not, I knew all I needed was to hold him for five seconds, because there were only ten seconds left on the clock. My focus was strong in this contest.
Following this, he went on to the semi final, unfortunately against team mate, Matvey KANIKOVSKIY
I put all my focus on Zelym first, he is the Olympic Champion and I was ready for this. Of course, it’s not always enough time to prepare for a semi final, especially this one. We are on training camps with each other 300 days of the year, so we know everything about each other, every small thing. It was just a case of who would catch first.
Though it wasn’t a golden finish and we wasn’t able to take back his red back patch, it was a memorable performance from Adamian who defeated Dzhafar KOSTOEV (UAE) for the bronze medal, throwing with uchi mata for the waza ari score before moving in to the yoko shiho gatame.
I am very glad to stand on this podium, I understand that to be on the top I need to work twice, three times as hard as usual and there are still another three World Championships before the Olympic Games and I think I can do it.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen