Deguchi looked more assured than her counterpart in the preliminaries. In her round 2 match against Nairne (GBR), she managed the contest expertly and submitted her opponent using okuri-eri-jime with 1 minute left on the clock. Against a tough Takano (JPN) in her quarter-final, Deguchi never lost her cool, throwing with a crafty tomoe-nage for waza-ari with 3 seconds remaining in the contest.
Though Klimkait made light work of Batsukh (UAE) in their round 1 match-up, scoring waza-ari-awasete-ippon in less than a minute, she was made to work much harder to reach the last four. She was drawn against 4-time grand slam winner Momo Tamaoki (JPN) in round 2 and survived a few scares to score waza-ari with her patented dropping shoulder throw with only 10 seconds left. An even tougher match against Lien (TPE) in the quarter-final saw the two go deep into golden score. Klimkait, however, maintained a higher attack rate and Lien picked up 3 penalties to send the Canadian through.
Deguchi faced Eteri Liparteliani (GEO) in the semi-final and she stunned the Georgian with an off-the-grip o-soto-gari in just 30 seconds. All Klimkait had to do was get past Jessica Lima (BRA) to set up a fourth grand slam final against her compatriot this year alone, but the Brazilian had other ideas. She was on scintillating form, defeating Yeung (HKG), Honda (JPN) and Cornelisse (NED) with ippon scores in her earlier matches. She set the tempo of the contest against Klimkait, throwing in the opening seconds of golden score with a fast o-uchi-gari, scoring waza-ari. There was despair for the Canadian but elation for Lima, as she had earned herself a place in her first ever grand slam final.
Unfortunately for Lima, Deguchi was a step too far and the final was a one-sided affair. The Canadian launched an unusual soto-makikomi at the end of the first minute which flattened the Brazilian and confirmed a magnificent 8th grand slam gold medal for Deguchi.
The first bronze medal contest was settled between Klimkait and Timna Nelson Levy (ISR). The Canadian landed the first blow within 20 seconds, switching from her usual seoi-nage to ko-uchi-makikomi, which scored waza-ari. The Canadian continued to dominate but this score alone was enough to earn her 6th grand slam bronze and her 16th grand slam medal overall; a great result by anyone’s standards but not enough for Klimkait. Advantage Deguchi.
Lien and Liparteliani battled to earn the second of the bronze medals. Lien managed to keep the Georgian at bay and took the first chance she got on the ground to use her favourite sankaku turnover to reverse her opponent and pin her for ippon. This 9th grand slam medal for Lien marks a return to form and is her first in almost 3 years.
Final (-57 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-57 kg)
