Luukas Saha has placed silver in the Oceania Open in Australia, part of the series of the IJF World Tour of judo.
Luukas Saha25, has medaled for the first time in his judo career at an IJF World Tour event in Perth, Western Australia.
Competing in the men’s 66-kilogram category, Saha advanced to the finals with three match wins after reaching the second round by lottery.
On the way to the final, Saha’s handling crashed Great Britain Samuel Hallof Canada Julien Frascadore and Turkey in the semi-finals Muhammed Demirel.
Morocco in the final Abderrahman Boushitawho is a few places better than Finland in the world rankings, proved to be better than Saha in the third minute of overtime with his kouchi-gari kick.
– Fighting all day felt a bit crowded, and I couldn’t make explosive performances. A very good result compared to that, said Saha.
Head coach of the Judo Association Rok Draksic was satisfied with Saha’s grips.
– I have known that one day Luukas will be successful in competitions of this level, although the moment could not have been known in advance. The last four tournaments have seen him play very well, but there has always been a bit of bad luck involved. I’m glad it happened today.
The Judo Oceania Open is a judo competition that is part of the IJF World Tour of judo and the qualifying period for next summer’s Summer Olympics in Paris.
Before this, Saha’s best achievement at the adult level was the 5th place at the legendary Paris Grand Slam in early 2022. At the European Championships in Montpellier exactly one week ago, he was a fine seventh.
Luukas Saha is currently 40th in the world ranking and 38th in the Olympic ranking. A judoka should reach the top 30 in order to have some chance at the Olympics.
29th in the Olympic ranking Valtteri Olin won today in Perth in the men’s 73 kg opening round against Saudi Arabia Sulaiman Hamadin with ippon, but narrowly missed Azerbaijan in the future Nurlan Osmanov with wazari. At the European Championships, Olin also won his opening match, but lost in the 2nd round.
Martti Puumalainen won the European Judo Championship in France last Sunday in the over 100kg category. Puumalainen’s medal was Finland’s first adult competition medal in 30 years in judo.