Georgian judokas wrestled better on the second day of Tokyo Grand Slam, named after Jigoro kano. But they could not reach top three. Today winners will be found out in 73, 81 and 90 kg.
Debutant of the team Avtandil Chrikishvili (81 kg) and leader Varlam Liparteliani (90 kg) lost in the 1/4 final and as there is no repechage at Grand Slam, they took the 5th place. Chrikishvili was beat by Japanese Takahiro Nakai. Nakai won over Chrikishvili by waza-ari. Young Georgian beat two opponents - Polish Robert Kravchuk by yuko and American Travis Stevens by ippon.
Liparteliani beat South Korean So Keun Song within 2 minutes and 42 seconds and Argentinian Hector Campos by yuko. He lost against Brazilian Tiago Camilo in the 1/4 final.
Today, Tengiz Paposhvili (73 kg) and Giorgi Baindurashvili (81 kg) wrestled on tatami but both of them finished the tournament without victory. Paposhvili lost against Uzbek Navruz Zhurakbilov within 2 minutes and half by ippon. Portuguese Diogo Lima beat Baindurashvili by yuko.

Here are the semifinal pairs:
73 kg
Dirk Van Tichelt (Belgium) - Iuki Nishiama (Japan)
Nicholas Triton (Canada) - Riki Nakaia (Japan)
81 kg
Leandro Guilhero (Brazil) - Takahiro Nakai (Japan)
Ian Barton (Great Britain) - Masahiro Takamatsu (Japan)
90 kg
Khurshid Nabiev (Uzbekistan) - Tiago Camilo (Brazil)
Dilshod Choriev (Uzbekistan) - Masashi Nishiama (Japan)


Otar Maglakelidze