A day before the official opening of the Tel Aviv Grand Slam in Judo, preparations were completed yesterday at the Kvutzat Shlomo Hall, where dozens of workers are working on arranging the venue for the prestigious competition - which will arrive in Israel for the second time and is expected - if no surprises - in the coming years.
Several huge tents were deployed around the hall, including a tent that would serve as a warm-up hall for the hundreds of athletes who came from 34 countries, a dining tent and a VIP tent.
The Grand Slam competitions will start on Thursday morning with the low weights and will last for three days.
The medal fights will open daily at 5pm, and for this class almost all tickets have been sold out.
Although there is still a lot of work to be done in the next 24 hours, you can already see the podium and the lighting has already been put in place, as well as the dignitaries 'seating area and the judges' area.
The state flags have already been hung, and towards the end of the preparations all the mattresses will be deployed and the advertising signs will be placed.
Peter Placzyk.
Will stand on the podium ?, Photo: Alan Schieber
Today at 14:00 there will be a raffle of the competition followed by the official press conference.
The Grand Slam gives a great score to the world rankings, which makes it thoughtful and significant for the judokas who later also want to achieve the criterion for the Paris Olympics 2024.
Sagi Muki is waiting for Cass
Among the names to come will be Olympic medalists, world champions and European champions, such as Brazilian Rafael Reason, winner of two Olympic bronze medals and world champion, or Matthias Cass of Belgium, Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist and current world champion, one of Sagi Muki's biggest rivals in the category 81 kg, which will also be one of the most attractive in the competition, with a significant part of the top ten in the world.
Sagi Muki.
Challenging battles, Photo: Reuters
Prominent among the women will be the Frenchwoman Madeleine Melonga, the silver medalist from Tokyo, and her member of the world ranked team Romana Dico, the bronze winner from Tokyo and the Masters champion.
The largest team will of course be that of Israel, and it has 43 athletes, including almost all the seniors and the team that won a bronze in the team competition in Tokyo, except Uri Sasson, including European champion Peter Plachik, Muki, Tal Flicker, Baruch Shmailov, Geffen Primo, initial singing Timna Nelson-Levi, Inbar Lanir, Raz Hershko and more.
Since the host country is allowed to share up to four athletes in each weight category, it was decided by national coaches Oren Samadja and Shani Hershko - in collaboration with the Judo Association - to also give youngsters a stage to experience for the first time in such a class, and more for the home crowd.
One of the young women who will be worth following will be Kerem Primo, the European champion and runner-up world champion up to the age of 21, who has moved on to compete in the weight category up to 63 kg.
The union's chairman, Moshe Ponti, sounded ready yesterday: "The Israeli public is thirsty for judo, and we are very happy that after a year in which the public could not come, he will return to the stands to compete with our athletes, along with great athletes from around the world."
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