Judo wrestler Lasha Bekauri named newcomer of the year
Lasha Bekauri celebrates claiming the world champion title at the Junior World Championships in Morcco in October. Photo: Di Feliciantonio Emanuele/IJF.
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The International Judo Federation has named Georgia's young athlete Lasha Bekauri as the newcomer of the year in its unofficial end of year awards.
The 19-year-old winner of the Junior World Championships in October as well as the European contest was picked as the discovery of 2019 in the IJF selection made public this week.
After taking the world title Bekauri qualified for the senior competition in Qingdao, China, where he was even more impressive in his defeat of the Netherlands' world champion Noël van 't End.
????️ 2019 Highly Unofficial End Of Year Awards
— Int. Judo Federation (@Judo) December 23, 2019
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The results were further bolstered by his wins over more high-level competition including the 2018 world champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, a Georgian-born judoka competing for Spain.
With these and other results Bekauri, ranked 11th across the globe, is slated by the IJF to be "one to watch in 2020".