Opponent's Jaw Broken: Judoka Speaks Out on Assault Scandal

His attack on German Olympic competitor Timo Cavelius during a Bundesliga match caused outrage in the judo community; now Akaki Japaridze, a guest fighter from Leipzig, has spoken out. “Any form of physical aggression in sports is unacceptable. I do not shirk responsibility for what happened,” the Georgian said in a post on his Instagram account.

The 24-year-old Japaridze, from JC Leipzig, had beaten Cavelius—who was competing for TSV Abensberg—so badly that he had to be hospitalized and suffered a broken jaw. The Georgian has now attempted to explain what led to this outburst. He wrote that he wanted to make it clear that this incident “was not the result of emotions” triggered by the loss in the match. “The reason was different: my opponent’s insulting behavior toward me, both verbally and through gestures. This is completely unacceptable in sports and in terms of sports ethics—and, first and foremost, unacceptable to me as a Georgian and as a man,” Japaridze wrote.

The Georgian, who has since returned to his home country, posted a video on Instagram of the first of the two Bundesliga bouts against Cavelius in the 90-kilogram weight class. The video shows Cavelius, who lost by ippon, refusing to accept the referee’s decision, while Japaridze bows respectfully three times. He had lost the second bout to the German, who then raised a clenched fist toward his team and also toward the Georgian. Then Japaridze suddenly attacked his opponent and seriously injured him in the face.

Cavelius: “I neither verbally insulted nor physically attacked him”

Cavelius responded to this account. “This celebration was directed at my own team and was an expression of joy over winning the fight. I would like to make it explicitly clear that at no time was it my intention to humiliate Akaki Japaridze as an athlete or to insult him because of his background, his nationality, or his identity as a Georgian man,” Cavelius wrote in a statement provided to the German Press Agency, adding: “If my celebration nevertheless came across to him as a personal provocation or insult, I regret that he felt that way. I did not intend to have such an effect.”

Cavelius, who underwent immediate surgery at Leipzig University Hospital following last Saturday’s incident and had his jaw stabilized with three plates, must now wait another ten to twelve weeks before he can fight again. “I’m on the road to recovery,” Cavelius told the dpa. Looking back, he said: “Even if my celebration may have triggered negative emotions in Akaki Japaridze, this can neither explain nor justify such an outburst of violence. I neither verbally insulted him nor physically attacked him.” The 29-year-old Bavarian will miss the World Championships in Baku from October 4 to 11.