-48kg: Who Else Other Than a Three-Time World Champion?

In front of her audience, it was ultimately Ersin who made the best impression and would earn, whatever the final result, valuable points. She won on penalties in the first round and then threw the athlete from Hong Kong with ura-nage. Against Scutto, the current world number one, she threw with tsuri-koshi in golden score; the crowd erupted and rightly so, it was a huge win. Giliazova (AIN) was her prey in the quarter-final and Ganbaatar was at a loss in the semi-final.

In the second half of the draw, things were more in line with the reality of the ranking list, since the world number three, three-time and reigning world champion Natsumi Tsunoda (JPN) qualified to face Ersin, without really being endangered, during her preliminary contests.

This final between an outsider strongly supported by her public and a favourite Japanese judoka promised to be very interesting. The result was actually known quickly though, Tsunoda throwing her opponent with a tomoe-nage for waza-ari and keeping the arm under control, she pinned her down immediately before concluding with an armlock. Yes, today there were two different levels, between Tsunoda and Ersin, but this silver medal for the Turkish judoka is so promising for the future. Today she learned a lot while the gold medal was for Tsunoda.

The first bronze medal was contested by Sabina Giliazova (AIN) and Abiba Abuzhakynova (KAZ). The Kazakh, 3rd seed in Antalya, had looked extremely robust during the morning session, throwing with ashi-waza, kaeshi-waza and sutemi-waza, unafraid to employ all techniques in her arsenal. Only Tsunoda put her under any pressure at all. The result was eventually decided with penalties, as Giliazova received her third shido during the golden score period. This medal confirms the good form shown by Abuzhakynova during the day.

For the second bronze medal we had to wait for the result of the contest between Natasha Ferreira (BRA) and Narantsetseg Ganbaatar (MGL). If the first half of the contest was quite balanced, both judoka being unable to throw but showing commitment, the second half was clearly to the advantage of Ganbaatar who scored a first waza-ari with uchi-mata and a second with a sumi-gaeshi. The bronze medal headed to Mongolia.