Judo - Tashkent

Shamil Borchashvili second at Grand Slam!

Shamil Borchashvili took second place in the 81 kg weight class at the Judo Grand Slam tournament in Tashkent on Saturday, gaining many points for the rankings on his way to the Summer Games in Paris! 

The Olympic bronze medalist only had to concede defeat to world number one Matthias Casse from Belgium in the final, the 28-year-old from Upper Austria's fourth defeat in his fourth duel. "I had already lost three times to Casse. This time I felt I was on a par. Now I'm very disappointed that it was only silver again. But I didn't miss much. I will analyze the mistakes and attack again next time," said Borchashvili.

"Only the icing on the cake was missing at the end!"
But it was a "very good day". "Tactically, physically and mentally, I pushed myself to my absolute limit and fought at a high level. Only the icing on the cake was missing at the end: the gold medal."

Borchashvili had beaten Omar Rajabli from Azerbaijan in the semi-finals and lost out to Sagi Muki from Israel to win the pool. The tournament is one of the Upper Austrian's favorites, with the arena usually packed with 12,500 spectators. He also came second at the Grand Slam in 2023 and won World Championship bronze in 2022. The action continues next week at the home Grand Prix in Linz. "I'm certainly in form - we're going to rock Linz."