Khaibulaev delights Putin with judo gold

Russia's Tagir Khaibulaev delighted his president and judo black-belt Vladimir Putin Thursday as he beat Mongolian defending champion Tuvshinbayar Naidan to win the Olympic under-100kg title. Putin, seated among the crowd, raised his arms in celebration and was among the first to congratulate Khaibulaev after he claimed Russia's third judo gold with an unstoppable seoi-nage (shoulder throw). Russia had never before won an Olympic title in judo since the break-up of the Soviet Union and Khaibulaev said it was a pleasure to be able to win in front of the country's president, who was joined by British Prime Minister David Cameron in the stands. "I didn't know he was there, there wasn't any added pressure, I just tried to do my best," said the winner. "It was great that he was there to personally congratulate us and shake my hand. "It was a team effort, he helped us as a team, he came and trained with us several times in the last four years. "He's a judoka himself, he's a master of the sport and he took part in our preparation. "I'm delighted to show him we can win medals at this level." For him it was also revenge for a previous defeat by Naidan. "I fought him in the worlds in 2010 where I lost so I needed to take revenge," he said. "I was prepared, determined and focused on taking revenge." Dutchman Henk Grol and German Dimitri Peters won the two bronze medals, beating Uzbek Ramziddin Sayidov and Hwang Hee-Tae of South Korea respectively. Khaibulaev added the Olympic crown to the world title he won last year, becoming only the second reigning world champion to add Olympic gold in this competition. He also became the second fighter from Dagestan to win a judo gold at this Games following Mansou Isaev in the under-73kg category three days ago. After coming off the mat, Khaibulaev was joined by Putin and his fellow Russian medallists Isaev, Arsen Galstyan (-60kg gold) and Ivan Nifontov (-90kg bronze) for hugs and photos. Russia's third gold means only four teams -- South Korea, Japan, France and Brazil -- could finish above them in the final medals table, by winning both heavyweight categories on Friday. Khaibulaev began his day by pinning Belgium's Elco van der Geest and Czech Lukas Krpalek, either side of an ippon win over Yauhen Biadulin of Belarus. His biggest threat came from Krpalek, who was leading their fight with a minute left by a yuko and in a ground battle was trying to roll his opponent into position for an arm-lock. Yet he made a mistake and Khaibulaev, who until then was merely defending, seized his opportunity to turn things around, managing to roll the Czech onto his back and pin him for ippon. The semi-final against Peters went all the way to a judges' decision, which the 28-year-old won unanimously. Naidan had not been in great form since his Olympic success, failing to win a medal in any of the last three any World Championship. But he was back to his best in London. The 28-year-old strangled Teerawat Homklin of Thailand in the first round before beating France's Thierry Fabre by the maximum ippon score. His toughest test came in the quarter-finals against Ramziddin Sayedov of Uzbekistan. The pair were inseparable after five minutes of combat but just 15 seconds into a sudden-death period of golden score, Naidan flipped Sayedov over his head and flat on his back with a seoi-nage to win. In the semis he beat 2003 world champion Hwang by a yuko with a counter-technique.