Georgia has opened the scored of medals at Rio 2016. On the third day of the Olympics, judoka Lasha Shavdatuashvili won the bronze medal.
The poll showed that on the way to gold, one of the key sections was the quarterfinal battle of Japanese Shohei Ono and Shavdatuashvili. Lasha said in the Olympic Village that who will win this match, he will become the champion. So it happened, but unfortunately, the Japanese gained the highest title.
Before the quarterfinal, Shavdatuashvili passed two stages without being nervous. He was involved in the competition from the second circle, where defeated Cuban Magdiel Estrada. Then, he won over Sri Lankan Chamara Repialaj.
The evening block started with repechage meetings. Two victories were left to bronze. First of all, victory over Russian Denis Yartsev was necessary. Georgians and Russians were sitting together on the tribune. Until the end of the 5th minute they were happy because the Russian was winning, but 20 seconds before the final sirene the Georgian managed to beat him and switched to “bronze final”.
In the decisive meeting, Shavdatuashvili faced last year’s European champion Sagi Muki of Israel and won over him easily.
After the victory, “World Sport” talked to Lasha Shavdatuashvili.
“After London Olympics I changed the weight. I moved to 73 kg from 66 kg and getting used to was very difficult. I worked and fought hard and I am happy that my hard work was appreciated. It’s a matter of course, I thought about becoming champion, but I think the bronze medal is a great result. Gaining any kind of medal is a great success at Olympics. I am glad that this is the first medal for Georgia on such important day – August 8. Also, I beat the Russian on my way. I would like to thank everyone who helped me to reach this result,” – said Shavdatuashvili to “World Sport”.
After talking to the Georgian journalists, the representative of the Russian edition asked him for comment, but the Georgian did not say anything.
“We started with bronze. There is a lot of medals and most importantly, gold is waiting for us. Rio Olympics will be the most successful for Georgia in the history of the Olympic Games” – said the team’s chief doctor Zurab Kakhabrishvili.
On August 9, the winners will be found out in 81 kg and Avtandil Chrikishvili will participate. He will start from the second round and will face Cuban Ivan Felipe Silva Morales. In case of victory, the Georgian will compete with Greek Roman Moustopoulos or Juan Diego Turcios of Salvador in 1/8 final. Moustopoulos is a son of Giorgi Revazishvili, former member of the Georgian judo team.
On the same day, we must support shooter Nino Salukvadze and archer Khatuna Narimanidze too.
Otar Maglakelidze, special correspondent of worldsport.ge in Rio de Janeiro
