On the second day of the Grand Prix in Linz, five Slovenian representatives stepped onto the tatami. The first to compete was Martin Hojak in the under-73kg category. The 28-year-old from Ljubljana faced Brazil’s Guilherme De Oliveira in the opening round. Hojak started the bout well and was the more active competitor early on, but midway through the contest the Brazilian capitalized on the Slovenian’s attack, took the fight to the ground and persistently searched for a hold-down. After two successful escapes by Hojak, De Oliveira was precise on his third attempt and held the Slovenian on his back for 20 seconds to secure victory.

“There was a bit of bad luck and a bit of carelessness. After a relatively okay start to the fight, the Brazilian got what he wanted on his third turnover attempt. I managed to defend twice, but not the third time,” Hojak said after the match. He added that he had also been prepared for groundwork: “He is still a relatively new competitor, so there may be a little less information about him, but we were still able to watch some of his matches. In competition, a lot always depends on the situation and also a bit on luck. As I said, I defended the turnovers successfully twice, but not well enough the third time, and unfortunately that proved decisive.”

Hojak will not dwell on the defeat for long, as he is set to compete at the Tbilisi Grand Slam in two weeks’ time. “I will try not to let it affect me too much and to focus as quickly as possible on the next competitions,” he said.

Aljaž Plantak’s campaign in Linz ended in a similar fashion in the under-81kg category. The 26-year-old Slovenian faced Spain’s Jose Maria Mendiola Izquieta in the first round. The Spaniard attempted several turnovers into a hold-down during regular time, but Plantak managed to escape each time. The decision came after almost a minute of golden score, when Mendiola Izquieta succeeded in establishing a hold-down for five seconds, which was enough for the decisive yuko.

“It could have been better. I should have gone into the match more aggressively, I gave him a bit too much room to work, and that’s also why I picked up penalties. I feel I was doing well getting to the grip, but then I entered too little, attacked too little and allowed him too much space to attack,” Plantak said in his assessment of the match. He will now head to an international training camp in Nymburk before deciding on his next competition together with his coach.

In the same category, Igor Tsurkan also competed, facing Estonia’s Saad Dikajev in the opening round. After a promising start by the Slovenian, the Estonian took control and caught Tsurkan at the right moment with a leg technique, throwing him onto his back.

“Very bad, I’m not having a good day,” Tsurkan said briefly after the defeat. It was his first time representing Slovenia at a Grand Prix event. Despite the loss, he emphasized that the experience was still an important one: “The feeling is very good, but I need to work even harder and train even more to reach the level I want and to win a medal.” Speaking about the rest of the season, he added: “It would be good to compete at the European and World Championships, but now I need to work hard to reach that level.”

In the under-63kg category, Slovenia was represented by Leila Mazouzi and Kaja Kajzer. Mazouzi defeated Dutch judoka Joni Geilen in the opening round, Geilen having won bronze at the Ljubljana European Open three weeks ago. The 19-year-old Slovenian secured victory with a successful arm lock midway through the contest.

In the second round, she faced the category’s second seed, Kosovo’s Laura Fazliu. Fazliu quickly took control and moved ahead with two yukos, and when Mazouzi pressed in search of an equalizer, the Kosovan sealed her place in the quarter-finals with an ippon.

“I have no comment on this match. My goal is not to come to a competition and lose in the second bout, so yes, this is a match I want to forget,” Leila said after competing, adding that her focus would now turn to school.

More had been expected in the Slovenian camp from Kaja Kajzer, last year’s Grand Prix winner in Linz. As the fourth seed, she had a bye in the opening round and then faced Israel’s Kerem Primo in the second. After an even opening minute, Primo secured a dominant grip and converted it into a yuko with an uchi-mata, putting Kajzer in a difficult position.

“That was awful for me. It’s easier for me to protect a yuko than when my opponent has a yuko and I have to chase it. My arms got tired, I could no longer feel my forearms, I didn’t know what else to do. I kept trying the same thing, but she was always a step ahead, so I couldn’t come up with an idea of what to do,” the Slovenian representative said after the defeat.

The 20-year-old Israeli held on to her narrow advantage until the end of the contest, and Kajzer’s campaign in Linz thus came to an end after her first match. After reviewing the footage, she also gave her initial analysis of the performance: “After watching the match, I would say I didn’t fight well for the grip. I feel I didn’t get to my good grip; in fact, I was more focused on preventing her from getting a high right-hand grip on me, and the only time she did get that grip, she threw me with uchi-mata. I was bending over too much, so it was not my best match.”

Although she had never faced the Israeli in competition before, she had expected a difficult contest. “I knew she could be a tough opponent. I had already fought her once in training. I know she is an awkward fighter, that she is aggressive, that she wants to get a high right-hand grip, and yes, maybe I should have fought more aggressively myself,” she said.

She also stressed that the burden of defending last year’s title had not weighed on her as much as the results of the other Slovenian competitors. “I wasn’t burdened by last year’s win, more perhaps by the fact that almost all the Slovenians had lost and I wanted at least to achieve something myself. It’s good that we still have Metka and Gal tomorrow, so I hope they do well.”

Slovenia’s performances in Linz will conclude on the final day of competition with Metka Lobnik in the under-78kg category and Gal Bertalanič Žižek in the under-100kg category.