the spanish judoka Nikoloz Sherazishvili had to settle for the silver medal at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, after being disqualified in the final of the under 100 kg category which he faced this Sunday with the Canadian Kyle Reyes.
A controversial decision taken in the absence of one minute and ten seconds for the conclusion of the fight, after the judges realized that the Spaniard had performed an illegal maneuver trying to knock down his rival.
A defeat which cannot however be tainted by the good competition of Niko Shera in Abu Dhabi, where the pupil of Quino Ruiz He has made up for the early elimination he suffered just two weeks ago at the World Cups in Tashkent.
And that the path to the medals was not easy for the Spanish judoka who, after beating the Italian Gennaro Pirelli and Turkey’s Mert Sismanlar, met in the quarter-finals the Serb Alexander Kukoljsilver medal at the World Championships held last year in Budapest.
An intense fight that opted for the ‘Madrid’ side with just over a minute and a half to go after Sherazadishvili added his second ‘waza-ari’.
But if the quarter-finals were demanding, no less hard was the semi-final match in which the Spaniard met the Canadian Shady Elnahas, number 3 in the world ranking, and so executioner in the last World Cups in Tashkent.
If in the Uzbek capital Niko Shera succumbed to the Canadian in the “golden technique”on this occasion the Spanish judoka took revenge and beat Elnahas with an “ippon” for 18 seconds to go.
A winning streak Sherazadishvili was unable to extend in the final against fellow Canadian Kyle Reyes, current vice-world championafter being disqualified just over a minute from the end, as the judges understood that the Spaniard had done an illegal nod of the head while trying to strike down his rival.
With the money raised this Sunday in Abu Dhabi, Niko Shera counts a total of five medals -a gold medal, two silver and two bronze- since he went from the -90 kilos category to the -100 category after the conclusion of the past Tokyo Olympics.
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