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Austrian hero Ludwig Paischer rises to the top in Croatia

Austrian hero Ludwig Paischer rises to the top in Croatia

12 Sep 2014 18:10
by Mark Pickering - IJF
IJF Media Team / International Judo Federation

At the Zagreb Grand Prix, Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallist Ludwig PAISCHER (AUT) was on top form as he returned to the summit of the category where he has won Olympic, world and European medals. PAISCHER prevailed against Junior World bronze medallist Ahmet Sahin KABA (TUR) in a fascinating -60kg final.

The 32-year-old, who some might have disregarded as being in the twilight of his career, was swift of thought and action against 21-year-old KABA, who also claimed a silver medal at the Junior European Championships last year and is one of the most exciting talents on the circuit. KABA is a prospect no more after his fearless display in Zagreb and he had the audacity to take the lead with a uchi-mata-makikomi for a yuko. PAISCHER restored parity with a sumi-gaeshi before trapping his young opponent for 20 seconds for ippon and released his emotions by punching the air in celebration.   
 
In the first semi-final PAISCHER defeated 19-year-old Francisco GARRIGOS (ESP) with a majestic sumi-gaeshi after 96 seconds. In the second semi-final KABA, who led by a yuko, lived dangerously as he had three shido penalties to his name with over a minute remaining but Diego SANTOS (BRA) ran out of ideas against the young Turkish fighter. KABA turned out of a juji-gatame attempt from SANTOS and held on to the delight of his teammates who spurred their man on throughout the contest.
 
The first bronze medal was claimed by SANTOS who showed no physical signs of his lung-busting semi-final effort. The Brazilian scored twice to defeat Junior European bronze medallist Carmine Maria DI LORETO (ITA) who is one of a plentiful group of highly-touted youngsters in the Italian team. SANTOS scored a yuko with a morote seoi-nage and added a second by holding his opponent with kesa-gatame for 14 seconds, one second shy of being a waza-ari score. The second bronze medal went to former Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist Pavel PETRIKOV (CZE) who defeated beaten semi-finalist GARRIGOS in golden score. After five minutes both judoka had a shido penalty against their name as an additional 20 seconds were needed to separate the rivals with the Spaniard receiving a shido for gripping his opponent with a bear hug attempt.         
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