The action started on the three mats at the SNP Dome for the 2023 IBSA Judo Grand Prix Heidelberg in Germany!

Day 1, always dedicated to the light-weight categories, brought the hometown judoka interviewed by IBSA for the preview of the tournament. Lennart Sass, 24, 3rd in the Paralympic Ranking List (PRL), got the gold medal in the category -73kg, starting 2024 with a victory, like what happened in 2023, at that time, at the GP Almada in Portugal.

Lennart took a tremendous path until the final, defeating in the semifinals the 2nd in the PRL, Yergali Shamey, and the leader in the final, Alex Bologa.

The first category to know its champion was J1 -60kg. Of the first three athletes in the PRL, only the Brazilian Elielton de Oliveira got a silver medal. The winner was the Iranian Seyed Abadi (5th), and the top-two judokas in the category, Kapil Patmar (1st), from India, and Miguel Vieira (2nd), from Portugal, lost their chances of getting a medal. Henry Borges (4th), from Uruguay, and Shiwen Zhu (6th), from China, got the bronze, which means that the PRL could suffer some changes on the update after Germany.

On the women’s side, one curiosity is in the J1 -48kg category. The podium almost reflects the current status of the PRL! In the absence of the leader (Khaiitkhon Khuzan Kyzy, KGZ) and the third in the ranking (Rosicleide de Andrade, BRA), the four athletes from three different continents took their chance to get important points.

In the J2 category, the Kazakh Akmaral Nauatbek, the indisputable leader of the category, is turning her Road to Paris into a successful one, stage by stage. With another victory, her Paralympic qualification seems almost impossible not to happen!

Check out the results of Day 1:

Men
J1 -60kg
1st – Sayed Abadi (IRI)
2nd – Elielton de Oliveira (BRA)
3rd – Shiwen Zhu (CHN)
3rd – Henry Borges (URU)

J1 -73kg
1st – Lennart Sass (GER)
2nd – Alex Bologa (ROU)
3rd – Yergali Shamey (KAZ)
3rd – Djibrilo Iafa (POR)

J2 -60kg
1st – Davyd Khorava (UKR)
2nd – Vugar Shirinli (AZE)
3rd – Sherzod Namozov (UZB)
3rd – Luis Gavilan (ESP)

J2 -73kg
1st – Yujiru Seto (JPN)
2nd – Feruz Sayidov (UZB)
3rd – Osvaldas Bareikis (LTU)
3rd – Uchkun Kuranbaev (UZB)

Women
J1 -48kg
1st – Nataliya Nikolaychyk (UKR)
2nd – Ecem Cavdar (TUR)
3rd – Rocio Ledesma (ARG)
3rd – Shizuka Hangai (JPN)

J2 -48kg
1st – Akmaral Nauatbek (KAZ)
2nd – Liqing Li (CHN)
3rd – Cahide Eke (TUR)
3rd – Kokila (IND)

J2 -57kg
1st – Jianan Wang (CHN)
2nd – Junko Hirose (JPN)
3rd – Marta Arce (ESP)
3rd – Kumushkhon Kodhjaeva (UZB)

Photo credit: Ralf Kuckuck/DBS