Aoife Coughlan (AUS), who had shown really good judo since the morning, kept on winning to reach the final after she defeated Serafina Moscalu (ROU) in the semi-final. She faced the only Japanese survivor of the category, Saki Niizoe, in the final.
With three gold medals in grand slams to her name, Niizoe was clearly the favourite of the final but with what Coughlan had shown during the day, everything was possible. On one hand we had the left uchi-mata and o-uchi-gari of the Japanese, on the other the right seoi-nage, which nevertheless looked a little weaker than Niizoe's attack. Actually, it was Niizoe who scored the first waza-ari with a ko-soto-gake. However, the advantage was cancelled after the video referee decision, landing was clearly not on the side at 90°. This was a warm-up for what was about to come. With a massive harai-goshi, Niizoe propelled Coughlan to the roof and then to the floor for a classic ippon. Coughlan was good today, very good, but she missed the last step. Niizoe was not just good, she was perfect.
It must be underlined that after the tsunami of Japanese victories in the first female categories, the performance of Aoife Coughlan is remarkable. What Ai Tsunoda Roustant (ESP), who won against Elvismar Rodriguez (VEN) and Elisavet Teltsidou (GRE), who defeated Serafina Moscalu (ROU), did to reach the podium was also amazing.
Final (-70 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-70 kg)
