Only two of the top four seeds in the heavyweight men’s category made it to the semi-final stage of the competition and of them only one made it to the final. That one made the most of his day and broke through a glass ceiling for his nation.
Final: Mikita Sviryd (CRO) vs Giannis Antoniou (CYP)
This was a fast-paced final and one that could have gone either way but Giannis Antoniou seemed inspired and despite going down by a yuko found the energy and determination to to turn things around and register a very important ippon on the scoreboard.
Antoniou (CYP) throws for ippon.
Cyprus has a team that is growing and developing all the time but no-one from the island has won a grand prix gold before. In Lima Antoniou has made history!
Giannis Antoniou (CYP) makes history.
It was fantastic to get the immediate reaction from Antoniou, straight after he left the tatami, “I’m just really happy right now. I think this is the best result of my career and I feel really proud of all the hard work I’ve done to reach this point. Most importantly for me, this is a big step closer to Olympic qualification and this is my main dream.”
Bronze medal contest: Denis Batchaev (RUS) vs Fransisco Solis (CHI)
Fransisco did not run away from the challenge of competing against Batchaev. He earned the first yuko of the contest and with that came hope that he could overcome the Russian. Batchaev had other ideas though and responded immediately with a massive ko-soto-gake flattening his Chilean opponent.
Batchaev’s (RUS) ko-soto-gake.
Bronze medal contest: Vidak Maljevic (SRB) vs Stefan Kovinic (MNE)
Stefan Kovinic wasted no time at all, piling the pressure on his opponent, so much so that Maljevic had to back off for a moment and reset. Kovinic was undeterred though and came at him with a huge turn that scored a yuko, sasai-tsuri-komi-ashi in play.
Stefan Kovinic (MNE).
There was little change in the rhythm from that point on and as the clock ticked down to zero, Kovinic knew he had done enough.
Medals, cheques and flowers presented by IJF Vice President and PJC President of Mr Carlos Zegarra Presser, and Peruvian Judo Federation guest Mr Daniel Vizcarra.
The +100 kg podium.