In the final Manon Deketer (FRA) and Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo (MGL) arrived with no intention of losing, two persistent athletes with the will to overcome any challenge. However, there has to be a loser, just one gold medal is up for grabs and today it was assigned to Manon Deketer. A yuko from a counter in golden score was her signature, accepting her title as champion for this day. She arrived and departed as the number one!
The first bronze medal contest was a welcome spectacle for the gathered crowd as China’s Jun Li stepped on to the tatami to face one of the unknown quantities present in Qingdao, Ji Hye Kim (PRK). Both athletes arrived ready to commit to the task, attacking often and well, despite the lack of scores on the board during the first half of the fight. There was a close call for Kim when Li applied a shime-waza but the positioning wasn’t right to earn the submission and so the contest continued.
With just over a minute to go, Li again threatened to finish things on the floor but good defensive work from Kim halted her progression. The contest looked set to move into a golden score period. After 4 minutes of all-action extra time, the contest was decided on penalties, Kim being the recipient of a first World Judo Tour medal.
Kaja Kajzer (SLO) and Angelika Szymańska (POL) fought for the second bronze medal, another dynamic, non-stop battle. Szymanska took just a minute to place the first score on the board, a yuko from a well-timed o-soto-gaeshi. She almost followed it directly into osae-komi but Kajzer was able to escape and take a deep breath before continuing.
After a momentary pause, Kajzer took the initiative and ran at Szymanska, not always a wise plan against high level judoka, but in this case it worked. She was able to hook on to the outside of her opponent’s leg, tripping her to the floor with a ko-soto-gake for a much-needed yuko. Now they were even! The clocked ticked down and in golden score the pace stayed just as high, both athletes searching for ippon. Eventually it was the Polish fighter who secured the win, throwing with uchi-mata.
Final (-63 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-63 kg)
