Georgia’s national judo team claimed a gold medal at the World Judo Championships in Baku, thanks to Ilia Sulamanidze. The Georgian judoka delivered an outstanding performance in the -100kg weight category and became a world champion for the first time in his career.

Sulamanidze began his campaign with a victory over Hungary’s Zsombor Vég. He then defeated Moldova’s Vadim Gimbovski in the next round before overcoming Russia’s Niyaz Bilalov in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinal, Sulamanidze faced Italy’s Gennaro Pirelli, who arrived in Baku as a European champion and after securing several significant victories during the current season. The Georgian defeated the Italian by ippon to book his place in the World Championship final.

In the decisive bout, Sulamanidze faced Japan’s Dota Arai. The contest was tense and tactical, with neither judoka able to secure victory in regulation time. The bout therefore went into golden score.

At the decisive moment, Arai’s attack was initially awarded a waza-ari. However, following a video review, the referees determined that Sulamanidze had maintained control during the technique. The score was consequently awarded to the Georgian judoka, who won by yuko to claim the world title.

This is Ilia Sulamanidze’s first gold medal at the World Judo Championships. He previously won bronze at the 2021 World Championships and claimed silver at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

With his gold medal in Baku, Ilia Sulamanidze became the tenth Georgian judoka to win a World Championship title in the history of independent Georgia.