Last year, Ayub BLIEV (IJF) was forced to settle for a fifth place at the Senior World Judo Championships in 2024, and today, he was committed to standing on the podium. In his opening rounds he was tasked with the likes of two-time World bronze medallist, LEE Harim (KOR), then with only one minute left on the clock, found his way to glory with ko soto gake.
Unfortunately, he missed out on a place in the final, suffering defeat to the eventual silver medallist, Romain VALADIER PICARD (FRA), but he needed to collect himself to return for the bronze medal contest. Though his final opponent, ANDRASI Marton (HUN) is ranked #92 in the world, he surpassed all expectation on day one in front of his home crowd, creating huge upset in the early rounds by defeating the defending World Champion, Giorgi SARDALASHVILI (GEO).
From the get go, Bliev had control of the bronze medal contest, and after the first minute he saw an opportunity in ne waza, securing the osae komi to set himself as a world medallist.
Of course, I feel great after winning the bronze medal but I dont feel completed becuase I came for gold. I lost in the semi final and that was a difficult moment. During the first round, everything went as planned, everything was fine but the next rounds I felt stuck, and it was a little bit of a headache. But in general I did good judo today. I haven’t analysed the semi final yet so I could not tell you what was missing there but something must have been, as I have lost.
Anything but gold can be a little disappointing but Bliev has proven that he is a front runner in this difficult weight category and is already looking to the future.
All in all, I took silver at the Europeans in April, bronze now, so I am happy and I will compete in Abu Dhabi and Japan and look to keep the momentum going.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen