-48kg: Spain and Serbia Dominate

Speaking of Stangar, she may have lost to Nikolic but she otherwise had a strong day, beating Amanda Lima (BRA) and then beating Menz (GER) in the repechage before heading into the final block to face Nikolic’s domestic rival Stojadinov, also in good shape here in Zagreb, only losing out to Lapuerta Comas (ESP) at the end of a lengthy golden score battle.

Elsewhere in the draw we saw Laborde (USA) return to the tatami after her incredible silver-medal-winning performance in Hungary last week. She placed 7th after losing out to Stojadinov in the quarter-final. But still leaves with some valuable world ranking points.

The first bronze medal contest between Marusa Stangar (SLO), 3 time grand prix winner, and the Tashkent gold medallist from this year Stojadinov, began with fierce gripping exchanges and no fear of the transition phases. It was fast and focussed for the first minute before Stangar settled into her rhythm and took charge. She looked stronger, more confident and truly unforgiving of any mistake. In a transition tussle she left no space for escape and held the Serbian down for ippon with tate-shiho-gatame.

The second bronze medal contest between Abuzhakynova (KAZ) and Martinez Abelenda did not last long as the Spanish judoka committed all of her energy to the task of winning. Inside the first 30 seconds she threw the Kazakh with osoto-gari for waza-ari and immediately applied a kesa-gatame which looked cemented. However, Abuzhakynova does not give up easily and she lifted her legs to trap the Spaniard and force toketa but the reprieve was short-lived the hold was re-applied, this time without gaps and with a properly pegged ten seconds for the all-important second score.

Milica Nikolic and Mireia Lapuerta Comas fought for only a minute and a half but with enough action to fill a normal 4 minutes of judo. The finish came with a high attack from the Serbian which the Spanish fighter was ready for. Lapuerta Comas picked Nikolic up off the floor and launched her backwards with an enormous ura-nage and the contest was over. It was a great gold medal heading to Spain, adding to Martinez Abelenda’s bronze, and a silver to add to Serbia’s 5th place from Stojadinov.