Silver for Malta at the Commonwealth Judo Championships

Games of Small States of Europe Bronze Medalist, Isaac Bezzina, has made his comeback to Judo with a bang. Isaac had suffered quite a big injury off the judo mat last year and had to operate his cruciate ligaments, which kept him away from Judo for months. He started rehab in January, and in July he was back on the tatami (judo mat), adamant to make it to the top as soon as possible. Few weeks ago, accompanied by father and coach Alex Bezzina, Bezzina spent a week training at the Olympic Training Centre of Malaga, where he had the opportunity to have several randori (free style training) with top athletes from over 19 countries.

The first competition on his program was nothing less than the Commonwealth Judo Championships in Jaipur, India.

The Senior -100kgs was contested by 4 athletes. Originally more athletes were fielded in, but due to the big visa problems in India, some athletes did not make it.

Isaac’s first match was against Sri Lanka’s Bejjara Gadara. The Sri Lankan took by surprise the Maltese in the first seconds and scored a wazari (1 point), however immediately Bezzina took control of the contest and threw the Sri Lankan with a massive Tani-otoshi (valley drop), landing his opponent bang on his back, thus scoring Ippon (full points) and winning the fight.

The second match was against the host country’s judo star, Avtar Singh, bronze medallist at the Asian Open.

Bezzina opened the contest with a massive Ura-nage (rear sacrifice technique), but Avtar managed to turn and land on his face, thus giving no score to Bezzina. A minute later, came an attack from Avtar, with an unorthodox technique - a variation of an ura nage - which landed Bezzina on his back, giving an ippon to the Indian.

The third match was the one which was going to make the difference in the colour of Bezzina’s medal. The judoka between Bezzina and his silver medal was another Indian Judoka, Ajay Singh, a former silver medallist at the Asian Cadet Championships. Bezzina wasn’t going to settle for bronze, so in less than 15 seconds, he threw Ajay with a beautiful Uchi-mata (inner thigh throw), closing the contest with an Ippon.

This is Bezzina’s first Senior medal at the Commonwealth Judo Championships. He had won his silver medal in Commonwealth Junior Judo Championships in Cardiff in 2012.

At this Commonwealth Judo Championships, the Commonwealth Judo Congress was also held, which was also an elective congress. Our Malta Judo Federation President, Mr Envic Galea, was elected as Vice President.