Israeli wins silver in Zagreb judo contest

Israel’s judoka Or Sasson won a silver medal at the Zagreb Grand Prix 2018.

By: World Israel News Staff

Israel’s Judoka Or Sasson returned to the center of the world’s Judo scene on Sunday when he won a silver medal at the Zagreb Grand Prix 2018 in the over-100 kilogram category.

Tbilisi Grand Prix winner Guram Tushishvili, of Georgia, won his second Grand Prix gold medal this year as he beat four of his five contests by ippon, including Sasson.

Tushishvili, nicknamed the Tower of Tbilisi, opposed Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Sasson in the final and overcame the Israeli powerhouse by ippon with an opportunistic tani-otoshi after 91 seconds.

Sasson, 27, has world ambitions and will be a contender to step onto a podium at the crown jewel of the IJF World Judo Tour for the first time at the end of September.

In the second semi-final, Sasson benefited from an error-strewn showing by Pan American Championships bronze medallist Ruan Isquierdo of Brazil, who was penalized three times to receive hansoku-make.

Israel’s ranked sixth in the number of medals it took home after Tal Flicker’s gold medal and the bronze medals won by Baruch Shmailov and Tohar Butbul.

This is the first competition that counts towards qualifying points for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 and therefore was very important to all competitors from the Israeli team, the Jerusalem Post reported.