The second day of the Prague Judo World Cup was held in a frenetic atmosphere. The hall was full and the crowd celebrated the return of the Czech judo king Lukas Krpalek. Despite of an injury which has stopped him from fighting for almost three months and a flew he suffered last week Krpalek finished all of his opponents before the time limit in his way to the final. In the final U100kg he pleased his fans by defeating Temuulen Battulga of Mongolia by yuko. The Czech national anthem was played in Prague on Sunday. Two years ago Krpalek won a bronze medal in his home country.
Daiki Nishiyama, the world Championships runner-up of Japan, was the highest ranked judoka in the U90kg weight class. He scored several beautiful ippons during the day. However his final opponent Asley Gonzalez of Cuba took him to his limits. Eventually Nishiyama won the final by waza-ari which he scored by uchi-mata.
Yakhyo Imamov of Uzbekistan showed beautiful and dynamic judo in his ctageory U81kg. He threw Beka Gviniashvili (GEO) in the opening seconds for waza-ari and later he caught him with a take down and scored ippon. Except of his first opponent he finished all fights before the time limit.
In the last fight of the day Oscar Brayson of Cuba met Or Sasson of Israel. Or Sasson was the lightest competitor in this category weighing only 106 kg. In november he still fought U100kg and won bronze at the Grand Prix of Rotterdam.
Brayson is the giant from Cuba and very experienced. He won the World Cup in Oberwart two weeks ago and was the world Championships runner up in 2009. Despite of Sasson’s disadvantage he threw Brayson after 41 seconds for ippon and surprised almost everybody. For Sasson it meant his first big victory in an international world tour event.
A good quality tournament in Prague with a record participation and superb field with strong athletes. For many athletes Prague was the last hub to return to their home countries after a long European tour.
Watch all photos in our media gallery and review the results here:
