Joachim Bottieau proves that miracles exist

Who would have thought that World Champion Avtandil Tchrikishvili would lose at the Grand Prix Dusseldorf? But the charm of judo is that can be over in a split second, but in this case, even a penalty cannot be brushed away easily. Avtandili TCHRIKISHVILI (GEO), who was designated as the top ranked male athlete of 2014 (in all categories) confirmed his supremacy over the -81kg by entering the final against Joachim BOTTIEAU (BEL), who surprised everybody by defeating the 2013 world champion Loïc Pietri from France.

Two minutes and 15 seconds were necessary to see the first penalty on the scoreboard, when both athletes were penalized for passivity. Moments later, TCHRIKISHVILI received a second penalty but still remained in the balance for the world champion. Almost out of breath, Joachim BOTTIEAU produced a fantastic effort to avoid all the Georgian’s attacks and slowly but surely kept that one penalty advantage until the final gong, to write his name on the top of today’s results.

In the first bronze medal fight Loïc Pietri, who looked a little tired today, was opposed to Laszlo CSOKNYAI (HUN), who obtained a silver medal in Tunisia earlier this year on the occasion of the African Open. It took almost three minutes for Pietri to score a first yuko with a counter attack. Lacking of speed and accuracy the Frenchman showed a more defensive dimension today in Düsseldorf, but it was enough to finally secure the bronze and 120 world ranking points. Pietri won again a medal at a major event and is building an impressive serie.

The second bronze medal fight saw again the Canadian Antoine VALOIS-FORTIER, who is accustomed to international podiums (bronze medallist in London 2012 and world silver medallist in Chelyabinsk) and the local judoka Sven MARESCH fought for a place on the podium. But in front of his public, MARESCH immediately showed that he was the leader on the tatami, and he scored a superb ippon before the halfway point of the fight.