Israeli Judoka Yizhak Azani Wins Gold at Budapest Grand Slam

Israeli judoka Yizhak Azani secured a gold medal in the under-60kg category at the Grand Slam tournament held in Budapest, Hungary, on Friday. This victory marks a significant return for Azani, who recently recovered from an injury. He began his competition day with an ippon victory over Duston Rozayev of Uzbekistan in the second round.

Azani continued his dominant performance, achieving another ippon win in the round of 16 against Emil Gering of the Netherlands. In the quarterfinals, he secured a victory over Portugal's Bi Travalao Fernandes with two yuko points. The semi-final match saw Azani face Artem Lushak of Ukraine, where he earned two yukos to Lushak's one, advancing him to the final.

In the final match, Azani competed against Enzo Jean of France. Azani capitalized on a mistake by the French judoka during a technique attempt, executing a perfect counter-takedown for an ippon victory. "This is a great gift for me and for the country on New Year's Eve. I went through a difficult period, so to return to competition like this and finish with a gold medal is a very special feeling," Azani stated. Another Israeli judoka, Gefen Primo, who won gold in Lausanne two weeks prior, finished in seventh place at this event.