The question on everyone's lips was whether Croatia would make it to the final with both of its athletes again, as was the case last October in Tashkent. Would the Uzbek capital play the remake of an historic final between Matic and Lara Cvjetko? We were quickly fixed since Cvjetko bowed out in the first fight against the Ukrainian Nataliia Chystiakova, who herself bowed out later in the semi-final against the Austrian Michaela Polleres.
Before the final began, it was the eighth time that the two athletes were to meet, with a 4-3 lead for Polleres. With Matic being double world champion and world number one and Polleres being world number three, we could expect a tight match. With a little more than a minute gone, the strongest attack came from the Austrian with a ura-nage that was close to scoring but with not quite the right landing.
It seemed obvious that Matic did not look confortable with Polleres’ kumi-kata. As the golden score was unrolling, Polleres now seemed less active but as Matic dropped on her knees and Polleres remained standing, the latter could apply a sumi-gaeshi that put Matic on her side for waza-ari. So, it was gold for Polleres and a 5-3 lead now on their personal tally.
Uzbekistan had one more medal chance as Gulnoza Matniyazova qualified for the first match for a bronze medal, against Nataliia Chystiakova (UKR), but it was the latter who took the lead with an o-uchi-gari for waza-ari. Matniyazova was very close to scoring as well with a nice seoi-nage but she didn't get the 90° landing, so no score. As the end of the match was around the corner, Gulnoza Matniyazova raised her game and produced a superb movement that was awarded ippon, literally snatching the bronze medal from Chystiakova, much to the delight of the crowd.
Germany, particularly on fire from the start of the competition, had another medal chance as Giovanna Scoccimarro (GER) took on Ana Bernholm (SWE) in the second match for a bronze medal but being penalised three times meant Scoccimarro had to bow out. The bronze medal was for Ana Bernholm today.
Final (-70 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-70 kg)
