The Paris Grand Slam is one of the hardest competitions of the year and one of the most popular – this year there were 680 competitors (405 men and 275 women) attending from 115 countries.
Representing Cyprus was Aristos Michael in the -81Kg category.
Aristos received a bye in the first round and then came up against Sveinbjorn Iura from Iceland who was received a Bronze at the Hong Kong Asian Open last year.
As expected, the level of competition here was high and the Icelandic athlete started with a series of attacks both in Tachi-Waza ad Ne-Waza and dominated the first two minutes and starting the third minute Aristo received a Shido for non-combativity. Aristo started to attack in the third minute, but still the majority were from Sveinbjorn and that’s how the regulation 4 minutes ended. Going into the Golden Score both athletes attacked and both came close to throwing the other. After 80 seconds Aristo was deemed not to have attacked enough and received a second Shido, again for non-combativity. Just before the end of the second minute, Aristo attacked with a direct O Uchi Gari and took his opponent to the ground for an Ippon.
You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTP8ovDFOIQ&feature=emb_logo
Aristos’ next contest was against Frank De Wit from the Netherlands a very experienced opponent who had received Gold at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in 2017, Gold at the Paris Grand Slam in 2017 and Bronze at the Guangzhou Masters in 2018.
De Wit strength was apparent as he started attacking first and showing his superiority on the ground where he attempted to strangle Aristo. Just into the second minute Aristo received a Shido for a False Attack. Both contestants continued attacking with the majority coming from the Dutchman that lead to him attempting an armlock on Aristo that thankfully failed. After 2 minutes 40 seconds Aristo received his second Shido for Non-Combativity and the attacks from De Wit continued and just into the last minute De Wit scored a Waza-Ari with Uchi Mata. With 30 seconds to go, he again attacked with Ko Soto Gake throwing Aristo for Ippon.
You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ojd5JzpOlM&feature=emb_logo
With this being an Olympic year, the competition was tough and it was evident from all the contests in all the categories.
For Aristo to get the win that he did, against such tough competition and then contest well in his second shows his strength and determination as well as the progress we have made in Cyprus Judo.
Well done Aristo – you did us proud!
Cyprus Judo Federation – #WeHaveADream
