It seemed that the harder the fight became for Gersjes, the better she fought. Totally focussed, strategically prepared and without a single moment of hesitation, the Dutch competitor grew more and more confident as the time ticked away. She scored with a perfectly timed de-ashi-harai, a yuko that gave her a little breathing space.
Ganbaatar was clearly shaken by the score and became less precise, less focussed. Gersjes played a perfect game of attack and defence from that moment on and punched the air as the gong sounded. A week after winning her first grand slam medal, a silver, she upgraded her bounty and won the Qazaqstan Barysy Grand Slam gold.
After the final Amber Gersjes spoke happily, “I always wanted to get here and finally I found myself. It has been a long way to collect my first grand slam gold and I'm glad because my team always believed in me and helped a lot. I love judo but I had to learn to be patient and this took a while. After last week, I knew this competition would be mine.”
Francesca Milani (ITA) faced Chen-Hao Lin (TPE) for the first bronze medal and in fact scored first with a determined o-soto-otoshi. However, each athlete had already accumulated 2 penalties and so any mistake could have cost her dearly. It didn’t though; she used it to her advantage instead and out-gripped Lin until a third shido was given to her.
Milani hasn’t won a World Judo Tour medal since 2023 and look satisfied with today’s work, a comeback of sorts.
In the second of the two bronze medal contests, Kristina Dudina led against Shafag Hamidova from the outset. A seoi-otoshi entry with a swift change of direction at the last second gave her a first score and a counter almost her second. Hamidova had to come forward, even to meet the pace but as she did, Dudina spun underneath her again and the ippon score was promptly registered on the scoreboard.
Final (-48 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-48 kg)
