Ayiman stepped on to the tatami of the Qasri Tennis arena to face Asya Tavano (ITA), who took the first score early in the contest, a yuko. With the Italian leading, Ayiman had to come forward and up the pace but no matter how hard she tried, she could not break the defences of Tavano. Now Tavano has two gold medals from Dushanbe, in 2024 and 2026, and can be satisfied with a great day’s work at this year’s edition.
Asya Tavano, beaming after her final, said, “Dushanbe will always be special for me. I won my first grand slam gold here, and now again. The fans here support us so much and this gives me more energy. I feel really confident after a lot of strong practices. They have paid off here and in previous events as well. However, the real work starts only now in Mongolia because the goal is the Olympics.”
Kinga Wolszczak (POL) and Xinran Niu (CHN) were pitted against one another for the first of the two bronze medals of the women’s heavyweight category. Both arrived with dynamism but it was the latter who had the great precision and power. Niu earned a yuko first but later countered Wolszczak for ippon. As she left the mat, very happy with her performance, she was able to ‘high five’ her way off the field of play towards the podium, spectators celebrating her medal win with her.
For the second bronze medal, Mariia Ivanova (RUS) and Mokhlaroyim Tukhtamisheva (UZB) arrived ready to battle it out. Ivanova secured the win by osaekomi inside a minute and a half.
Final (+78 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (+78 kg)
