Austrian pressure, Tajik gold: Fasching pushed, Makhmadbekov finished — Djalo grabs a long-awaited bronze

Dushanbe felt ready to erupt on Saturday, and Somon Makhmadbekov gave the home crowd what it came for. Reaching the final, the Tajik favourite carried the weight of expectation and the energy of a packed arena. Across from him stood Austria’s Bernd Fasching, a physical fighter whose career trajectory is clearly on the rise.

Makhmadbekov set the tone early with a powerful o-soto-otoshi that put yuko on the board straight away. From there, Fasching kept hunting, chasing the opening and trying to force a turning point. But with the clock draining under a minute, he still hadn’t found the breakthrough that would swing the contest.

Makhmadbekov’s confidence grew as time slipped away. When the final seconds vanished, he threw his arms up—gold secured at home, adding to Tajikistan’s expanding list of Grand Slam medallists in Dushanbe. He later said he was delighted to win in front of his own crowd, stressing that this was exactly what he had worked so hard for.

One early score can be enough when the control never breaks.

The bronze matches delivered their own drama. In the first, Victor Sterpu (MDA) showed serious nerve after falling behind. Askar Narkulov (KAZ) had looked sharp and even launched Sterpu with an eye-catching sukashi, but Sterpu responded with precision: he closed space, made full-body contact and drove an o-uchi-gari for Ippon to claim bronze.

Europe had a moment to celebrate too, as France’s Oumar Alpha Djalo returned to the podium. Against Sunatullo Musoev (TJK), the fight stayed scoreless through regular time and went to extra time with Musoev carrying penalties. Djalo stayed in charge of the gripping exchanges and attacked more consistently, then finally slipped under with seoi-otoshi to score a crucial Waza-ari. After a stretch without medals, Djalo is back on the trail.

Source: JudoInside