Inal Tasoev won his opening match, against Stefan Kovinic (MNE) in just 39 seconds, scoring ippon with ouchi-gaeshi.
Tasoev’s second match was against Kanta Nakano (JPN) whom he had beaten twice before. Halfway through the match, Nakano surprised him with a kouchi-makikomi that scored yuko. Tasoev didn’t panic and just proceeded to throw Nakano with osoto-gari for ippon.
His next match was against double Olympic Champion Lukas Krpalek (CZE). Tasoev had some difficulty with him and had to be content with a yuko score from yoko-tomoe-nage.
Tasoev demolished his semifinal opponent, Dzhamal Gamzatkhanov (AZE) countering him with a tewaza for waza-ari and then quickly armlocking him for ippon, all in just 36 seconds.
His final match was against Ushangi Kokauri (AZE) whom he had already fought and beaten seven times. Tasoev clearly had the psychological edge. He countered Kokauri with an ouchi-gari so slick and efforless it seemed really like it was a demonstration throw. And with that, Tasoev won his third World title.
