At the second day of the Judo Master’s competition in Hungary, Kosovo, Netherlands, and Belgium all took home a well-deserved gold medal.
Fans eagerly awaited the opening ceremony that included opening speeches from IJF President Mr. Marius Vizer, Minister of the Prime-Minister’s office Mr Gergely Gulyás and IJF Vice President Dr. László Tóth, who was also awarded the IJF 8th Dan.
At -63kg, Laura Fazliu flew through her day, with her impressive judo taking her all the way to a second Masters final.
Once again, she faced four-time Masters Champion Takaichi from Japan, but this time she dominated the fight and took gold, keeping the momentum strong for team Kosovo.
The Minister of the Prime-Minister’s Office of Hungary Mr Gergely Gulyás awarded the medals.
“I’m feeling very happy, this medal is a special one. More so than others in my collection. This motivates me for future competitions, I’m so happy,” said Fazliu.
At -73kg, former World Champion Hashimoto Soichi was in great form and made his way into yet another Masters final. His opponent was Tajikistan’s Behruzi Khojazoda.
Hashimoto put up a tough fight with a close score, and ultimately took a tactical victory and an impressive fourth Masters gold.
Awarding the medals was IJF Special Guest Sheikh Dr Talal AL-Fahad Al-Sabah.
At -70kg, Netherlands Sanne Van Dijke faced Elisavet Teltsidou of Greece. Two big throwers.
In the final, Teltsidou almost managed to score, but the Masters title went to Van Dijke after a tactical penalty.
MET Group CEO and Chairman Mr Benjamin Lakatos awarded the medals.
At -81kg, 2021 World Champion Matthias Casse sailed through his preliminaries into the final while looking on peak form all day
In the final he scored an early waza-ari to take his second Masters title.
IJF Ambassador & IOC Honorary Member H.E. Schmitt Pal awarded the medals.
“Budapest is a sports capital almost, a lot of competitions from a lot of sports are also being held here. I’m usually fighting good here, I won my World title here, I’ve won the Masters now so I would like to come back,” said Casse.
Stay tuned for more coverage of the Judo Masters in Budapest tomorrow.
