Uzbekistan’s Sharafuddin Lutfillaev claims a gold medal at the Zagreb Grand Prix 2019

Marrakech Grand Prix winner Sharafuddin Lutfillaev rescued the -60kg final in the closing seconds after Antalya Grand Prix bronze medallist Ashley Mckenzie was given his marching orders for his third shido. Londoner Mckenzie, who is closing in on a place at his third consecutive Olympics, was on the verge of his first IJF gold medal – on his 37th attempt on the Grand Prix stage alone – with a waza-ari advantage before letting the world-class Uzbek back into the final and with 15 seconds remaining he was passive and was disqualified to his bitter disappointment.

In the first semi-final, Lutfillaev prevailed by ippon against Asian-Pacific Championships bronze medallist Mongolian Enkhtaivan Ariunbold while Mckenzie defeated 20-year-old Grand Prix debutant Tomer Golomb from Poland by the maximum score in the second semi-final.

The first bronze medal was won by Golomb who dismissed Rome European Open silver medallist Kazakhstan’s Dauren Syukenov after just 40 seconds with a tani-otoshi to mark his first IJF start with a place on the podium.   

The second bronze medal went to Enkhtaivan who launched Baku Grand Slam silver medallist Temur Nozadze of Georgia for ippon with a stunning tani-otoshi to open his IJF World Judo Tour medal account.