Dimitri Dragin is one of the World’s best practitioners of Ashi waza.

Throughout his competitive career the list of those he foot-swept is like a who’s who of Judoka.

He was able to execute his De Ashi Barai from almost any position

Although intending to attack with De Ashi barai, in competition it could easily turn into Okuri Ashi barai. For Dragin, all that matters is Uke is lifted into the air and lands on their back. For him it’s unimportant if that’s done by attacking one or both of Uke’s legs. The main focus is timing.

Dragin says ‘barai’ attacks are truly his Tokui-Waza, his favourite techniques.

A position that Dragin particularly disliked, was the extreme right vs right scenario.

He found it killed almost all attacking opportunities.

Having ended up in this position numerous times, he sought a solution that would enable him to attack.

Dragin’s solution was De Ashi Barai. To be able to execute it in this scenario, however, he had to reposition, placing himself in range of executing the technique.

Expand your Ashi-waza capabilities, and learn all stages required to execute De-Ashi Barai from an extreme same sided position. Then study an in-depth analysis of how Dragin executed it in competition.