On the top half of the draw another unseeded judoka stepped forward. Giorgi Loladze (GEO) won four contests en route to his semi-final. There he found an in-form Akil Gjakova (KOS) and struggled at first. Eventually he found his footing and threw for ippon. This was definitely a final no-one expected!

Final: Giorgi Loladze (GEO) vs Joshua Green (IRL)

A dynamic and physical contest entertained the spectators inside the Zagreb Arena. Both attacked, both avoided, both gripped excellently. As the contest went into golden score there was only a single shido on each side of the board.

As the second minute of extra time was coming to a close, Loladze finally found his space. He scored a yuko with an o-uchi-gari. This is Loladze’s first gold on the World Judo Tour but it is also Joshua Green’s first medal at this level.

After the final, Giorgi Loladze said, “I am very overwhelmed! I have won a gold medal at an IJF tournament for the first time and I am so happy; I don't know how to express it, I am so glad. This is just the beginning of everything. It was a very tense match but I gathered my strength in golden score and managed to become the champion. It's a very cool arena, a very cool atmosphere, a very cool country and there are so many fans; I enjoyed shaking hands with the children here.”

Bronze medal contest: Nathan Cadignan (FRA) vs Maxime Gobert (FRA)

This all-French medal contest could have been a cagey affair but the judoka arrived ready to win and gave each other no space to relax. Hard gripping phases and physical exchanges marked the match, at least for the first minute.

It was then that Maxime Gobert countered an attack from Cadignan and placed a waza-ari on the scoreboard. Not satisfied with that situation, he transitioned to ne-waza and arm-locked his teammate. It isn’t always easy to fight someone from your own team but this was a good example of how to do it well.

Bronze medal contest: Anton Shuhalieiev (ESP) vs Akil Gjakova (KOS)

Ranked 34th and 32nd in the world respectively, this was always likely to be a close contest. As the time passed, even kumi-kata exchanges took hold but neither was willing to let the fight end with penalties.

Anton Shuhalieiev attacked first but this gave Gjakova a position he was very happy with and he grappled his way into a controlled position and threw Shuhalieiev on to his back cleanly for ippon.