The 2023 judo season came to a positive end at the Tokyo Grand Slam on Sunday with silver medals Inbar Lanir and medals by Raz Hershko and Gefen Primo. These medals join 21 other medals won by the team during the year at the Grand Slam Tour. With a total of 6 gold, 5 silver and 13 bronze medals, ranking the team sixth overall in the medal table, with only powers such as Japan, France, Georgia, Italy and Azerbaijan ahead of it.
This is only one medal lower than the amount achieved in 2022, but only 4 gold medals were achieved that year (plus 5 silver and 16 bronze), and the teams of national coaches Shani Hershko in women and Oren Smadja in men, finished eighth. However, it should be remembered that in a significant part of the tournament competitions not all the top athletes participated. This is in addition to not participating in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam because of an iron sword war, athletes who did not leave due to problems with the army and the Baruch Shmailov affair who missed a significant part of the season.
Peter Palchik, Photo: Oren Aharoni
The peak of the season was, somewhat ironically, on Qatari soil, where the World Cup was held. This is where Inbar Lanir made the leap in her career and won the gold medal in the weight category up to 78 kg, which gave her the right to wear the red patch on her back that identifies her as the world champion, the third in Israel's history, after Yarden Jerbi (2013) and Sagi Muki (2019).
Lanir was not the only Israeli on the podium in Doha, where Raz Hershko (over 78kg) and Peter Palchik (up to 100kg) rose to receive bronze medals. And to this success can be added the successful European Championships with the silver for Hershko and Gili Sharir (up to 63 kg) and the bronze for Lanir.
In general, Israel's women's team starred this year, with depth in the various weight categories, Lanir who showed that the world title was no accident, Hershko who maintains stability, Sharir is regularly in medal battles, Timna Nelson Levy (up to 57 kg) who recently regained her form, and the younger generation in the squad, who is supposed to take his place in Los Angeles 2028, is already starting to get a place on the senior round.
For the men, the face of the national team after Paris 2024 will look different, but the older generation is still here and bringing achievements. The most encouraging part is that you can already see the successes of the younger generation, which include Yitzhak Ashpiz's gold medal at the World Cadet Championships, and Eran Fix's silver medal at the World Junior Championships, 9 years after Baruch Shmailov won bronze there.
Hershko. A successful season, photo: World Judo Federation
Lanier: "An honor to represent the country"
As mentioned, the Tokyo Grand Slam ended yesterday, with another medal for Lanier's ever-filling coffin. "I'm really happy to be on the podium at the prestigious Grand Slam tournament in Tokyo," the judoka said. "Every opportunity to raise the flag and represent our country with dignity is a great privilege for me. I hope this medal will further strengthen the long and difficult period we are going through."
Shani Hershko, coach of the women's team, said: "We finished the prestigious Grand Slam in Tokyo with 3 medals. It's a historic achievement, and it connects to this year of the women's team where the team broke record after record. We look forward to 2024, which we are so looking forward to and ready to invest all our energies in preparation for the Olympic Games in Paris. I am proud of the athletes and the team and proud that we were privileged to represent the State of Israel. The best country in the world."
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Grand Slam Tokyo, Okoreard A successful end to a successful season, photo: Judo Association
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