Judo: Georgian fighter becomes world champion

A young Georgian judoka has been crowned world champion at a youth competition in the United Arab Emirates.

Beka Gviniashvili, who turned 20 today, won the 90kg weight category competition of the Junior Judo World Championships, currently underway in Abu Dhabi.

Last month, Gviniashvili won the European junior competition and became European Champion.

At the world championship event, Gviniashvili won four fights against Korean, Iranian, Polish and German athletes before the final, where he met Georgian athlete Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, who fought for Spain.

Gviniashvili won all of his five games by ippon; the highest score a fighter can achieve in judo.

Earlier in Abu Dhabi other Georgian judokas won two silver and one bronze medal. The silver medals were won by Tamaz Kirakozashvili (73kg) and Mariam Janashvili (51kg), the latter being the only female athlete of the Georgian team. The bronze medal went to Irakli Kupatadze (55 kg).

Later today Georgian heavy weight judokas will get involved in the competition, and tomorrow a team competition will take place, where the Georgians are favourites.