World No. 1 Joanne Van Lieshout of Netherlands competes on Saturday at the IJF Grand Slam Tbilisi
The second day of competition of the International Judo Federation Grand Slam Tbilisi got under way Saturday morning with preliminary bouts in four weight classes, including men’s lightweight (-73 kilograms) and half middleweight (-81 kg) and women’s half middleweight (-63 kg) and middleweight (-70 kg). Joanne Van Lieshout, the world’s top-ranked judoka in the half middleweight class, leads Saturday’s entrants at the Olympic Palace in Tbilisi, Georgia. A total of 385 athletes from 52 nations across five continents are competing in Tbilisi as part of the 2025 IJF World Tour.
How to Watch IJF Grand Slam Tbilisi Day 2 in Judo Today:
Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025
Time: 9 a.m. ET
TV: The Fight Network
Live stream Day 2 of IJF Grand Slam Tbilisi on Fubo: Start your free trial today!
Van Lieshout is one of five judoka ranked in the world’s top 10 competing in the women’s half middleweight field, along with No. 4 Clarisse Agbenenou of France, Canada’s No. 6 Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, No. 7 Katarina Kristo of Croatia and eighth-ranked Angelika Szymanska of Poland.
Lara Cvjetko of Croatia, the No. 3 judoka in the world at women’s middleweight, is the top seed in that weight class, with world No. 4 Miriam Butkereit of Germant and No. 8 Sanne Van Dijke of Netherlands also in the field.
On the men’s side, Makhmadbek Makhmadbekov of United Arab Emirates is the top seed in the half middleweight bracket with the No. 5 ranking in the world. World No. 2 Francois Gauthier Drapeau of Canada holds the top seed in the middleweight competition. Mahamadsharif Najmudinov of Tajikistan had received a bye in the men’s half middleweight Pool B but withdrew from the tournament. Krygystan’s Erzhan Kanatbekov pulled out of the draw in the men’s middleweight division.
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