-48kg: Unstoppable Pont for France

For Malca to find herself in the final was already a performance, as, to date, she had never won a single medal on the international circuit, finishing fifth twice at grand prix level, but today was her day. In the first round, she pushed herself to get rid of one of the favourites, Catarina Costa (POR), before defeating Narantsetseg Ganbaatar (MGL) and then Natasha Ferreira (BRA) in the semi-final.

Blandine Pont was no more a favourite than Tamar Malca at the start of the day, but she should have been, since she arrived with a victory from just two weeks ago at the famous Paris Grand Slam. We were therefore not too surprised to see her reach the final again after a faultless run during the preliminaries, which should undoubtedly allow her, in her next outing, to enter the realms of the top 8 seeds.

Less than 30 seconds after the start of the final, Pont had already one waza-ari to her name. This was a cold shower for the public but they kept pushing Malca, hoping that she could turn the tables. Unfortunately for her, a minute later, she was pinned down by Blandine Pont for ippon. The Frenchwoman did not give the slightest chance to her opponent to win. With this second gold medal in a row, Pont becomes a serious rival for Shirine Boukli (FRA). This promises some very interesting dynamics in the near future. Who can stop Blandine Pont?

The match for the first bronze medal opposed Narantsetseg Ganbaatar (MGL) and Mireia Lapuerta Comas (ESP). Ganbaatar scored a first waza-ari with a counterattack to take the lead but that did not block Lapuerta Comas from pushing and putting pressure on the Mongolian judoka. The latter was penalised a first time with a shido for dropping to her knees. That should have been a sign for her. The best defence is often to attack but Ganbaatar preferred to defend. This was not a good choice as Mireia Lapuerta Comas scored a massive ippon to conclude the match just a few seconds before the bell for a Spanish bronze medal.

In the second match for a bronze medal, between Maria Celia Laborde (USA) and Natasha Ferreira (BRA), golden score was needed to designate the winner. 2 minutes and 55 seconds later, Natasha Ferreira applied a shime-waza technique to win by ippon and win her first medal on the World Judo Tour.