Yoshino took the initiative and surprised Koga with a ko-uchi-gari for a yuko; she had the lead. It was short-lived though as Wakana Koga turned Yoshino and held her on her back for 20 long seconds. It was gold for Koga and silver for Yoshino.
The first bronze medal contest featured Hikari Yoshioko (JPN) and Mizuki Harada (JPN) but the head-to-head between home athletes didn’t slow the pace at all. Despite understanding each other’s judo very well, the attack rate was high from both judoka, the match staying close until the very end. A tiny yuko separated them as the time ran out, in Harada’s favour.
The second bronze medal was won by vs Anudari Jamsran (MGL), defeating Chen-Hao Lin (TPE) in a very tight contest which ran into extra time. Jamsran led by two penalties for several minutes, her attack rate being super high from the first “hajime.” Lin struggled to keep up.
Five minutes into golden score, Jamsran made a mistake and found herself on her back with Lin holding onto her arm tightly. It seemed there would be as submission. However, Jamsran disagreed and somehow made space to escape. It was short-lived relief though as Lin countered one of Jamsran’s many uchi-mata attacks for a waza-ari. Ten minutes of fighting gave the crowd ten minutes of high impact judo, finished with a positive score, just how we like it.
Final (-48 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-48 kg)
