Reka Pupp was convinced she too should reach the final, a logical assumption as she arrived as the number two seed. But judo is unforgiving and Pupp was thrown for ippon by Astride Gneto of France in the third quarter-final after more than 9 minutes of fighting. It was a perfectly placed o-uchi-gari, one delivered with impressive power considering the duration of the contest. Gneto couldn’t hold her line though and lost to Ayumi Leiva Sanchez (ESP) in the semi-final, dropping into the repechage to face Aleksandra Kaleta (POL) for a bronze medal.
Kaleta had defeated African champion Soumiya Iraoui (MAR) in the repechage final with a devastatinly tight shim-waza. A Gneto-Kaleta medal contest promised to have every element that makes for a great fight: a good mix of ne-waza and tachi-waza, tactical awareness and a huge amount of power and energy.
Intelligent from the outset, both understood the importance of the gripping phases. She who holds the dominant grip, probably holds the key to the ppodium and, in fact, an attack from Gneto without the right grip cost her dearly, giving Kaleta a yuko for a counter. The scoreline remained like this until just a few seconds from the bell when Gneto chased her opponent to the edge and caught her with an o-uchi- uchi-mata combination to equalise; not ideal for the Polish fighter.
In golden score they went back to an even gripping contest, neither willing to give up a good position for a risky attack; they had learned their lessons! In the end though, this exact mindset was Kaleta’s downfall. Her initial energy and eagerness to attack brought her the first score of the contest. Her caginess in the later stages of the contest brought her a third shido and sent the bronze medal to France.
Reka Pupp (HUN) and Jessica Pereira (BRA) fought for the second bronze medal. On paper it should be a Hungarian win but nothing is ever written in advance in judo. Pereira was all-too-aware of the possibilty of winning or losing at any moment and so she made every second count. On the ground she hunted Pupp and worked very hard to secure a kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame; Pupp submitted and the owner of the medal was decided. Pereira hasn’t won a grand slam medal since 2018 but the curse has been broken in Astana!
In the final, Ballhaus and Leiva Sanchez (ESP) both arrived determined to win the top prize. They had each done their homework which meant there was some cancelling out of the best attacks of the contest, well anticpated by the other at each attempt. In golden score Ballhaus managed an uchi-mata entry and a change of direction at the last moment landing Leiva Sanchez on her hip with just enough of the criteria met for a yuko to be logged. The gold was for Ballhaus and the silver for Leiva Sanchez.
Final (-52 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-52 kg)
