The current top ten men's judo players in the 60 kg division as of March 2011 rated by the International Judo Federation (IJF) are as follows:
1. Rishod Sobirov (Uzbekistan)
The current world champion is showing no signs of letting up as he captured the gold medal at both the World Masters and the Grand Slam Tournoi de Paris just past. In Paris, Sobirov showed why he's the man to beat at 60 kg. On his way to the big show he launched Papinashvilli with a huge counter and fought an explosive match with Swiss representative Chammartin. In the finals against Davtyan, Sobirov threw for ippon with a beautiful sasae with 1:48 left to go on the clock. With a whopping 2096 points right now, Sobirov is way ahead of the pack.
2. Hiraoka Hiroaki (Japan)
Current world bronze medallist Hiroaki started this year strong with a gold medal finish at the Grand Prix in Dusseldorf. Bringing his trademark speed to Germany, he unleashed his barrage of left and right seionages on Verde on the way to the finals where he beat Jang of Korea with two yoko tomoe nages for yuko. Hiroaki has been looking untouchable for awhile now. It will be interesting to see him and Sobirov square off in the immediate future.
3. Georgii Zantaraia (Ukraine)
2010 world silver medalist Zantaraia has had a harder start to the year with a fifth place finish at the Dusseldorf Grand Prix and a bronze medal at the Grand Slam Tournoi de Paris. Let's see if Zantaraia can find that same groove that allowed him to destroy Olympic champion Choi at the 2010 World Championships.
4. Arsen Galstyan (Russia)
Just when all of Japan thought that Hiroaki would be the 2010 world champion, Galstyan surprised everyone as he made Hiroaki tap in less than 30 seconds with a harsh armbar. Though he has not participated in other tournaments this year, he did earn a silver medal at the World Masters after losing to current 60 kg king Rishod Sobirov.
5. Beslan Mudranov (Russia)
Mudranov has had a quieter 2011 but is still riding his strong performances at the Qing Dao Grand Prix where he lost in the finals to the tough Boldbataar. At the 2011 World Masters, Mudranov clinched the bronze medal but had an impressive showing against Sobirov where he almost took out the champion. If Sobirov did not have the testicular fortitude to block the throw with his forehead, these rankings would be a bit different now.
6. Jeroen Mooren (Netherlands)
Mooren has been very active with fifth place finishes at the World Masters, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Tournoi de Paris and the Kano Cup.
7. Ludwig Paischer (Austria)
After placing seventh at the world championship, crowd favourite Paischer has since had a run of tough luck in 2011 with failed bids in Dusseldorf and Paris.
8. Hovhannes Davtyan (Armenia)
Davtyan has been fighting in everything in 2011! He placed second at World Cups in Sofia, Oberwart and Tbilisi. He used his hopping uchi-gari and uchi-mata combination to great effect in Tbilisi - taking down Asumbani and then securing the choke. The tough Armenian was impressive in his Tournoi de Paris bid where he only lost to Sobirov in the final. Davtyan could become a real big hitter this year.
9. Elio Verde (Italy)
Verde suffered a tough loss to Hiraoka in Dusseldorf this year but still remains at ninth place in the IJF rankings.
10. Hirofumi Yamamoto (Japan)
Yamamoto really put himself on the scoreboard after his gold medal at the Kano Cup. There he defeated his very dangerous countrymen Kido and Shishime to secure the top spot.
Ron Cheung - The author
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