Last weekend was the IJF grand prix in Tbilisi, Georgia. This is one of IJF’s mid sized events (still huge) with participants largely from Europe. Of course, these are the elite of Europe’s judo talent pools looking to collect points for the 2016 Olympics.
Day 1 of the action featured women’s -48kg, -52kg and -57kg categories and men’s -60kg and -66kg categories.
The new rules for 2014 seem to be allowing more groundwork and we’ve got GIFs of the 9 best ne waza techniques for you below!
When you’re done that, check out the Top 5 Ippons from Day 1 of the 2014 Judo Grand Slam
#9 The Classic Kesa Gatame
Shikhalizada pins Pliyev of Ukraine in this second round contest of the -66kg weight class. A classic style kesa gatame
#8 Yoko Otoshi/Sumi Gaeshi into yoko shiho gatame
It’s nice to see seamless transitions from standing directly into groundwork. Pliyev of Ukraine rolls right from a wazari score into a pin. Mumonov gives an honest effort to remove himself from the pin, but just like the bug that gets trapped in a spider web, he struggles with everything he’s got at first… slowing dooooown… until he realizes he’s done for.
#7 Crucifix pin
Chintogtokh of Mongolia wastes no time on her downed opponent with a turnover into a tate shiho gatame, transitioning over to yoko and eventually into a crucifix style pin. The entire time she controls Busra Akyol left shoulder causing her to tap.
#6 Bow and Arrow Choke
Yessimbetov of Kazakhstan down by a yuko manages to pull out a nasty bow and arrow choke after nearly getting tossed with an o goshi.
#5 Juji Roll Armbar at mat’s edge
Nataliya Kondratyeva of Russia takes advantage of her opponents back with a juji roll armbar.
#4 Juji Roll Armbar finish with the leg still stuck in half guard
The women’s under 52kg category has got to be one of the most vicious of all. Irina Zabludina of Russia pulls off a beautiful juji roll armbar with her leg still stuck in half guard. This armbar finish came just one match before her teammate, Kondratyeva of the same style. I guess Russia’s been working on this one.
#3 Babamuratova puts on a vicious clock choke
Another vicious -52kg lady,Babamuratova, of Turkmenistan makes the Armenian, Balasanyan, pay for a seoi nage attempt.
#2 Zantaraia hilariously runs from Verde of Italy only to end up choking him for ippon
Zantaraia of the Ukraine is leading the match, in the final seconds he attempts an uchi mata, loses control and runs away from Verde. Verde chases him down, almost gets thrown with seoi nage and ends up being choked by Zantaraia. You can almost hear the cartoon sound effects.
#1 Katinka Szabo of Hungary chokes the hometown favourite, Abashidze unconscious
Watch as Abashidze tries to tap, but the ref isn’t able to stop before Szabo pulls her over and realizes she is unconscious
Another angle
What was your favourite? Post in the comments below!
Didn’t see it? Request it!
Also check out the Top 5 Ippons from Day 1 of the 2014 Judo Grand Slam
ArtOfGrappling 
#6 bow and arrow choke was pretty badass
#1 She try to tap 2 times and the ref dont stop the fight, so what he’s doing there? he must to care about the integrity of the competitor over all.
I agree completely. They really need to change how the refs aren’t allowed to bend down to get a good view of what’s happening in the fights.
is the last one legal? she goes from standing into ne-waza using a leg grab, she doesn’t appear to engage in ne-waza first.
The way it was explained to me by an International ref was that you can grab legs when you have technically entered into ne waza.
Tachi waza is defined as either or both players being able to throw.
Entering into ne waza means that neither can achieve a throw. So if your opponent is turtling up, like Abashidze was, and you step over her back then, scoring with throws are off the table and you can grab the legs for ne waza techniques all you want.
I hope I explained that ok….
I appreciate what you’re saying and thanks for the explanation. I would still like a second oppinion though! On a couple of referee courses I’ve done it was explained that tori had to at least go on one knee (to be considered to be in ne-waza) and therefore be able to grab the leg. Having said that the strangle above was allowed so you’re probably right, although I’m still a bit confused…
Any international refs out there care to comment?
Asked a referee and he said ”The technique is stopped by white then her the leg comes over before the leg is grabbed so I would say it’s a newaza situation and was fine to continue”
You will mostly find small fish and crab at the bottom,
if your spear fishing then you will have to work your way in a zig zag up and
down the rocks from 10ft to 25ft and flush them out of the
rocks, you should find a lot of crab along the way. To help
the astronauts acclimate to the lower pressure in their suits they can ‘prebreathe’ pure oxygen for 4 hours prior to the EVA.
You can calm your thirst for adventure and excitement by indulging in waterskiing
in Goa.