It is always hard to defend a title.
And it is even harder to do so against an opponent from the host country who has the whole stadium behind him. But Russia’s Timur Arbuzov did exactly that.
The 22-year-old defended his European -81kg title in spectacular fashion on Saturday at the European Judo Championships Senior Tbilisi 2026 on Saturday (18 April) against Georgian arch-rival Tato Grigalashvili.
The heat was on when the two men stepped on the tatami but Arbuzov kept his cool and overcame Grigalashvili in just 1:37 minutes.
“I am very pleased because I didn’t want to give away the title,” Arbuzov said. “I can’t really describe my emotions right now. A lot of people from my country came to support me. My coach, my father were also on the tribune. I heard my father the whole day but I never saw him and met his eyes until the very end. It is a huge pleasure for me to make all of them happy today.”
The hot atmosphere only added to Arbuzov’s determination.
“I did not expect that it would go so fast,” the reigning World Champion shared. “I prepared myself for a tough contest. The support from the stands, the noise for him [Grigalashvili] even fired me up, it felt like as we were gladiators in a coliseum. Even if the shouting and howling is against me, I like this atmosphere. When I won, the emotions were just overwhelming.”
Arbuzov looks back at a strong performance throughout the day. “I would give myself a four [out of five].” he shared. “Just in one fight I didn’t fight so well. I got a score and started to defend it a bit but the other matches were not bad.”
At 22 years of age, Arbuzov now already has a World senior and two European senior titles under his belt. But he is hungry for more.
“My next goals are to win wherever they send me.”
Author: Tatjana Flade