The Abes will be the focus of a lot of attention, Hifumi having not suffered a single contest loss since the 2019 Tokyo World Championships and Uta extending her winning streak from the same year, her last loss being at the grand slam in Osaka in 2019.
On day one in Antalya, they’ll both be in play. At -52 kg we see Uta Abe seeded 4th, on Giuffrida’s side of the draw. She may not yet occupy the number one slot but there are seemingly insurmountable odds that lead us to visualise her already on top of the podium, a sunset and sunrise ahead of the first contests of the event.
There isn’t a judoka in the category who isn’t studying the Japanese game from grip to final execution but Uta has an almost 100% victory record. What about Giles (GBR), with her killer instinct in ne-waza? Could she wrap Abe up with her sankaku? The first question is actually, can she get to the ground safely in the first place? Abe’s technique and entry are razor sharp and don’t leave much space for advantages to be found on the ground. Even if there was one, it could only be used pre-tachi-waza-ippon and that seems unlikely.
Could Giuffrida (ITA), herself a double Olympic medallist, employ the rules at expert level in the semi-final, stopping the customary mid-lapel grip and dropping underneath the 4-time world champion enough to frustrate and penalise?
What’s the situation at -66 kg? Hifumi Abe is seeded first and even with entertaining, dynamic judoka in the group such as Garcia Torne (ESP), Dzhebov (TJK), Khyar (FRA) and double Olympic medallist Baul An (KOR), is anyone able to come close to the Japanese Olympic and 4-time world champion? Is it likely that Antalya is the location of his break away from victory? It’s not probable and although it is always impressed upon the judo community that anything can happen, some things seem far less realistic than others and Abe losing doesn’t seem realistic at all!