Nine minutes of pressure, then Shavdatuashvili owns the night in Tbilisi

Day two of the European Championships in Tbilisi built toward a -73 kg final that felt worthy of the stage. In the end, the gold medal match brought together two of the division’s biggest names: 2024 Olympic, world and European champion Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan and Georgia’s Lasha Shavdatuashvili, Olympic champion in 2012, European champion in 2013 and world champion in 2021.

The Olympic Palace was full and loud long before the final started. Once Shavdatuashvili stepped out in white, the home support pushed the atmosphere even higher. But the contest itself was not driven by noise. It was shaped by control, patience and an extremely high level of gripping.

From the opening exchange, neither man was allowed to settle into his preferred rhythm. They shut down space, denied clean entries and constantly adjusted to each other’s balance and hand position. It was the kind of match where every movement mattered, even when no big score appeared on the board.

The decision only came after more than nine minutes of contest time. With penalties reaching 3:2, Shavdatuashvili edged it by the smallest possible margin and sent the arena into celebration. For the Georgian, it was a remarkable return to the top of the European podium, thirteen years after his first and, until now, only senior continental title.

Shavdatuashvili turned patience into gold in front of his home crowd.

The bronze medal contests also delivered strong European moments. Türkiye’s Bilal Ciloglu claimed his medal against Akil Gjakova of Kosovo with a late Waza-ari from ko-soto-gake.

In the other bronze contest, France guaranteed itself a medal in an all-French meeting between Joan-Benjamin Gaba and 20-year-old Dayyan Boulemtafes. Golden score changed everything. Boulemtafes, who had no milestone medals at any age level before this event, countered Gaba with a huge o-soto-gaeshi to secure his first major medal and announce himself on the senior stage.

Source: EJU_News