Bashaev’s Seoi-otoshi Closes Qingdao Heavyweight Show

Tamerlan Bashaev was the decisive name in +100 kg at the Qingdao Grand Prix, finishing the heavyweight tournament with a statement in Judo. The Russian closed his day by defeating Hyoga Ota of Japan for gold, sealing the final with a clean ippon from seoi-otoshi.

Bashaev’s run had already carried real weight before the medal match. He opened against China’s Li Ruixuan, then knocked top seed Ushangi Kokauri out of the title race. In the semi-final, he produced one of the sharpest moments of the category, throwing Finland’s Martti Puumalainen for ippon with a huge seoi-otoshi after only 41 seconds.

That kind of speed and control set the tone for his whole campaign. Bashaev rarely looked under pressure on his way to another World Judo Tour final, and in Qingdao he seemed to have answers for every phase of the contest.

Across the draw, Hyoga Ota kept building his reputation among the heavyweights. The Japanese judoka beat Mikita Sviryd and Denis Batchaev to reach the semi-finals, where he faced one of Europe’s biggest names, double Olympic champion Lukas Krpalek of the Czech Republic. Ota stayed composed through a long golden score battle and eventually found the winning score, a result that sent him into the final and underlined his rise in the category.

The gold medal match stayed close for a time, with both athletes bringing strong form into the last contest of the day. Ota had already shown he could trouble elite opponents, while Bashaev entered the final looking powerful and confident. The breakthrough came when Bashaev launched another spectacular seoi-otoshi, driving Ota onto his back for ippon and ending the tournament in emphatic fashion.

After the win, Bashaev said it felt amazing, especially after losing his previous two finals to Ota. He also shared a light detail about his day, saying he had not drunk coffee before competing for the first time. Alongside the result, he praised the hospitality in Qingdao and said he would like to return next year.

For Europe, the podium still brought two strong stories. Lukas Krpalek recovered from his semi-final loss to take bronze by osaekomi against Dzhamal Gamzatkhanov of Azerbaijan. The ippon win gave the Czech star the nineteenth grand prix medal of his career, another notable landmark for one of Judo’s most decorated heavyweights.

Krpalek added another major milestone to his long heavyweight story.

Martti Puumalainen also left Qingdao with bronze after a dramatic turnaround against Denis Batchaev. The Finn was behind on penalties and close to defeat before changing the match with a well-timed ko-uchi-gari for waza-ari. He then added a yuko with osaekomi and controlled the closing moments to secure another World Judo Tour podium place.

Puumalainen flipped the bronze match with perfect timing when it mattered most.

The final standings in +100 kg saw Bashaev take gold, Ota claim silver, and Krpalek and Puumalainen finish with bronze. Stephan Hegyi of Austria and Grzegorz Teresinski of Poland were listed in seventh place, adding further European presence to the heavyweight results in Qingdao.

Source: IJF.org

Image source: IJF / International Judo Federation