Tbilisi GS Day 2

Japan’s Haruka Kaju went into the Tbilisi Grand Slam with a perfect track record of consecutive wins since she began her international competition career in late 2024. There was little doubt Kaju would win the -63kg gold in Tblisi as well. Although she wasn’t able to score against former World Champion Joanne Van Lieshout (NED) in the final, it didn’t seem like that was what she was aiming for. Kaju fought a tactical game and won through penalties. It didn’t matter though. A win’s a win.

Leonardo Valeriani (ITA) won his first-ever IJF World Tour gold medal in Tbilisi using a juji-gatame-based hold-down called uki-gatame on Valtteri Olin (FIN) in the final of the -73kg division. The moment Olin tried to escape the hold-down, Valeriani snapped on an armlock and got the submission. 

The anticipated winner of the -70kg division at the Tbilisi Grand Slam was reigning World Champion Shiho Tanaka (JPN) but as it turned out, she didn’t make it to the final. Instead, there was Madina Taimazova (RUS) and Aoife Coughlan (AUS). It was a tough battle with only a yuko separating them when the final bell rang. Taimazova got that score from a scruffy seoi-otoshi. This won Taimazova her fourth IJF World Tour gold medal.

The final of the -81kg division at the Tbilisi Grand Slam was one of the fans. Mykhailo Svidrak (UKR) scored very early on with a sumi-gaeshi for yuko and looked to be headed for a win when Vedat Albayrak (TUR) struck back with a sumi-otoshi for waza-ari in the dying seconds of the match. With only 17 seconds left on the clock, Svidrak wasn’t able to score again. This was Albayrak’s eighth IJF World Tour gold.