Kick'em In The Ghoulies
"It's The Only Way To Survive"
Ono Shohei Goes for Gold in Judo at Tokyo 2020
|
|
Thus so far one of the most exciting Judo matches must be the battle for Gold in the Men's 73kg category .
In the White we have one Ono Shohei , a Judoka who has reached near legendary status in Japan and much of the World. . Even though he does not compete as much as others in the sport , when he does he always comes out winning .
Here he is defending his Olympic title from 2016 .
Plus he has been unbeaten on the circuit since 2014. Which is a unbelievable concept in the sport of fighting arts.
But he has taken some time out to train for this Olympics and has not fully competed in every other tournament.
His goal is to bring Judo back to Japan as a national sport where it has declined and the West has embraced it.
This is a man whose goal is not just about winning for sport but for the passion of Judo and the honor of Japan and Judo's founder Jigoro Kano.
The Man in Blue is one Lasha Shavdatuashvili of Georgia and a powerhouse fighter who became the World Champion at 73kg in Budapest in 2021 earlier this year.
Now both Fighters have contested at 66kg and 73kg. . The Georgian won Gold in Judo at London 2012 and Bronze in Rio 2016.
Stepping onto the matt the newly crowned World Champion new what he was in for as he has much respect for Ono and the two seem to share the same passion and goals for Judo.
This was a crazy match which exhausted me just watching. , it went the full distance without score as Lasha attacked and attacked while Ono defended and countered each time. Going into Golden Score Ono started to turn up the heat after some time and I say time as the Golden Score time went over five Minutes. and they had previously been fighting for four minutes.
Every time Lasha got the hook to get Ono , Ono would redirect himself away at blistering speed. But then that's the thing with Ono he looks like he's going slow then BAM ! he flies into action and pulls of moves no other Judoka would try in such circumstances.
When Ono goes out to win he likes to win big and win big he did , getting the drop on Lasha more then nine minutes after they started fighting.
But you know Lasha didn't seem to mind as the two came together to say thanks and they both looked at each other as if to say , bloody hell that was a long bout. , both looked exhausted as I was from just watching.
The world Champion had just been dropped by a Japanese modern day legend and he new it and you could see the admiration the two men shared for each other.
Both men are Champions of Judo and both will go down in history as some of the finest Judoka the world has seen .
Ono Shohei taking it to Lasha Shavdatuashvili
Categories: Event news, People