The most important victory and the greatest distinction of his career was achieved by the 21-year-old Judoka Petros Christodoulidis at the Tbilisi Grand Slam. In the round of 32 he beat the silver medalist Willian Lima from Brazil. He eventually competed in the bronze medal match where he lost to Georgia’s Tornike Gigauri and finished fifth which is the greatest success of his career. He takes a 360b and will enter the Top40 of the -66kg World Ranking, for the first time in his career. Today it is at No. 43.
The Grand Slam matches give the most points, after the World Championships and the annual Masters.
The road to repechage
Christodoulidis started the match with a victory over the Indian Majgul Rohit Basir, while at “32” he found the Brazilian Olympian. It took him to overtime where with unbridled energy and the enthusiasm of a 21-year-old, he ipponed his great opponent, knocking him out. An impressive ippon that was reproduced by the World Federation’s Social Media and caused an impression throughout the international Judo community.
Continuing his amazing run in the “16”, he overcame the Georgian Lasha Nadiradze, winning his elimination. Then in the quarterfinals he lost to Kazakhstan’s Serikbayev who advanced to the final and sent Petros to the repechage for the bronze medal.
He initially beat Uzbekistan’s Ortikov but was defeated by Georgia’s Gigauri in the bronze medal match.
The appearance of Christodoulidis Grand Slam of Tbilisi proves his impressive progress and competitive maturity at the international level.
The efforts of Petros Christodoulidis are supported by Allwyn Cyprus, Charalambidis/Christis, the sports scholarship programs #TowardsLA of Pavlos Kontidis, Olympic Preparation of the Foundation “A.G. Leventis” and Olympic Scholarships for Athletes LA 2028 of the International Olympic Committee, while he has the full support of the KOA, the KOE and the Judo Federation.
The other Cypriots
In the -66kg category, Giorgos Balartzisvili participated, who was unlucky after losing to the Ukrainian Viskov Nazar in the first match. Sofia Asvesta (-52kg) beat the German Stakhov in the “32” to be defeated in the “16” by Pont, later winner. Asvesta entered the repechage but lost to the Israeli Primo.
On Saturday, March 21, Kyprianos Andreou (-73 kg) and Odysseas Giorgakis (-81 kg) will compete, while on Sunday, March 22, Aristos Michael (-100 kg) and Yiannis Antoniou (+100 kg) will compete.