-48kg: TSUNODA Opens the Campain for Japan It's usual at this level of competition, when two Japanese athletes are entered in a tournament, to find them in the final, especially in the lightweight categories. This is how TSUNODA Natsumi (JPN) and KOGA Wakana (JPN) came together to compete for the gold medal.
After only a handful of seconds, both TSUNODA and KOGA were in action, the latter putting a lot of pressure on her opponent, but it was TSUNODA who scored first with a brilliant sutemi-waza for waza-ari, before both were penalised for refusing to grip the judogi. TSUNODA received a second penalty quickly, putting her in a difficult situation, even though she was leading. No more mistakes allowed!And she made no more mistakes, chaining tachi-waza and ne-waza sequences. It was after a long moment on the floor that the referee said ‘mate’ and called for the video refereeing to judge a previous action that clearly offered a second waaza-ari to TSUNODA for a well deserved victory. The campaign is underway for Japan.
TSUNODA Natsumi declared: "Krasniqi was the favourite because she has defeated me twice in the past. So, I was a bit anxious before the contest. As for the final with Koga, we know each other very well, so the key was to show what I am good at and to block what she is good at. I always wanted to be a judo girl and now I am world champion and very proud of my red back number."
The first bronze medal match pitted Keisy PERAFAN (ARG), ranked 49th place in the world, against Julia FIGUEROA (ESP), sixth place in the ranking. FIGUEROA was the first to action with a circling uchi-mata for no score, but already giving the impression that she was stronger than her opponent. During the following action, FIGUEROA pushed PERAFAN in a clever counterattack for waza-ari and concluded rapidly in the floor, with an immobilisation for ippon. She was definitely in good form today and this first medal in a World Championships offers her a ticket to go to the Olympic Games this summer.
In the second bronze medal contest, we found two athletes who probably had other goals for today: MUNKHBAT Urantsetseg (MGL) and Distria KRASNIQI (KOS). A bronze medal at the World Championships remains an important achievement, though and KRASNIQI went on the offensive immediately, to show that she is more powerful than MUNKHBAT, imposing her high, strong kumi-kata, but the first real, strong attack came from the Mongolian, with a sutemi-waza attempt that brought no score. Very opportunist, MUNKHBAT was again close to scoring with a clever counterattack from KRASNIQI’s instigation, that was undoubtedly not prepared enough. Then MUNKHBAT was penalised with a first shido. It was time for golden score. Neither of the two athletes seemed to be able to break the distance between them, which would have opened the possibilities.
KRASNIQI took her first shido for stepping out of the tatami. At 2:40 into golden score, the Kosovan had a real first opportunity to win, when she pinned MUNKHBAT, which is already a performance, knowing the skills of the Mongolian on the floor, but the latter was able to escape. She still received a second shido for passivity, but another shido was awarded to KRASNIQI for keeping the grip on the same side of the judogi too long. Time was flying. At 5:30 of extra time it was KRASNIQI's o-soto-gari that came really close to scoring. Exactly 6 minutes after the start of the golden score period, a third shido was sent to KRASNIQI and MUNKHBAT Urantsetseg won her fourth medal at a world championships. What a champion!
Earlier in the day, world number one and therefore the number one seed, Distria Krasniqi (KOS), seemed well on her way to reaching a first world final of her senior career, to add to the gold medal she won in Abu Dhabi at the 2015 World Championships for Juniors. Successively, she beat the Olympic medallist Eva CSERNOVICZKI (HUN), Sabina GILIAZOVA (RJF) and Laura MARTINEZ ABELENDA (ESP), to reach the semi-final.
There she found TSUNODA Natsumi (JPN), winner of the World Judo Masters in 2018 in Guangzhou, China. The Japanese judoka had passed the obstacles of Milica NIKOLIC (SRB), in the first round, before winning against French athlete Mélanie CLEMENT and then Keisy PERAFAN (ARG).
It took only 2:28 for TSUNODA to score ippon against KRASNIQI, whose power has been wreaking havoc on the world circuit for months, a power that allowed her to win the World Judo Masters in January, as well as the hotly contested European Championships more recently.
In the second half of the draw, MUNKHBAT Urantsetseg (MGL) was the favourite for a place in the final, especially after beating GALBADRAKH Otgontsetseg (KAZ) in the third round, but the multiple world medallist finally had to bow out to the very young KOGA Wakana (JPN), only 19 years old, Junior World Champion in 2019 and a remarkable finalist in Paris in 2020. Her CV is still far away from that of MUNKHBAT, but it seems her level is not.
With momentum, KOGA climbed to the final after eliminating Julia FIGUEROA (ESP) in the semi-final, who had, had an almost flawless run until that point, especially against the rising French star Shirin BOUKLI, who later failed to escape the MUNKHBAT trap in the repechage.
Final TSUNODA, Natsumi (JPN) vs. KOGA, Wakana (JPN)
Bonze Medal Contests PERAFAN, Keisy (ARG) vs. FIGUEROA, Julia (ESP) MUNKHBAT, Urantsetseg (MGL) vs. KRASNIQI, Distria (KOS)
Final Results 1. TSUNODA, Natsumi (JPN) 2. KOGA, Wakana (JPN) 3. FIGUEROA, Julia (ESP) 3. MUNKHBAT, Urantsetseg (MGL) 5. KRASNIQI, Distria (KOS) 5. PERAFAN, Keisy (ARG) 7. BOUKLI, Shirine (FRA) 7. MARTINEZ ABELENDA, Laura (ESP)
-60kg: ABULADZE Concludes a Perfect Day in Style The last match and second final of the day saw Gusman KYRGYZBAYEV (KAZ), bronze medallist in Tel Aviv earlier this season and Yago ABULADZE (RJF), bronze medallist at the most recent European Championships, competing for the ultimate world champion title. Who ever would be winner, it would be an underdog becoming the new world champion, even though both competitors were seeded here in Budapest. Maybe in the morning competition, the public and the experts would have expected other top athletes to reach the summit, taking the first position.
After only 30 seconds, ABULADZE, who seemed to be under pressure on the ground, totally reversed the situation to pin down his opponent, but 9 seconds were not enough to score. Anyway, only a few more seconds were necessary for ABULADZE to score a first waza-ari with a massive hip movement. He doubled the score and secured a significant victory a little while later, with a left-handed o-soto-otoshi. ABULADZE was obviously the strongest today and he proved it in the best possible way.
Yago ABULADZE declared: "I am very surprised to hear that my judo is good because lots of people tell me that I have a strange style. I wanted to break stereotypes by executing good moves that would also mean victory. My ne-waza move was inspired by Varlan Liparteliani. I saw many videos of him doing that technique and I liked it a lot, so I started to work on it and it seems to work well, as you have seen today. I am happy with my red back number but I hope soon it will turn gold."
For the first bronze medal match, bronze medallist from the last European Championships, Karamat HUSEYNOV (AZE), faced Magzhan SHAMSHADIN (KAZ), 65th in the World Ranking List. The first 45 seconds were more like an observation round as both HUSEYNOV and SHAMSHADIN had kumi-kata at the end of the sleeves and were trying to pull, to suddenly change direction and go under the centre of gravity of the opponent. SHAMSHADIN was penalised with a first shido for passivity as the match unfolded to reach the end without any score. It was time for golden score. The first action came from SHAMSHADIN with a long distance ko-uchi-gari for no score. A little less than one minute of extra time was necessary for HUSEYNOV to score a small but significant waza-ari, to step on to the podium.
In the second bronze medal contest current European Champion, Francisco GARRIGOS (ESP), was opposed to the 2016 European Champion Walide KHYAR (FRA). The Frenchman was penalised first for holding the belt of his opponent too long, even if according to his coach on the chair, this left arm was the solution. It is the solution as long as you attack immediately. With less than a minute to go, GARRIGOS showed why he is among the top athletes in the world, with a beautifully executed o-uchi-gari from which KHYAR tried to escape, transforming the throw into a spectacular acrobatic move. A last shido received by GARRIGOS a few seconds before the end wasn’t enough to change the final result after his dynamic score and the Spaniard could celebrate his bronze medal and jump into his coach’s arms after the contest.
Earlier, during the preliminaries, looking at NAGAYAMA Ryuju's record and his position as top seed in the competition, we could imagine that the Japanese judoka would not have much difficulty in reaching the final. First in Tashkent earlier in the season, he was reassured about his level. However, that was without counting on Karamat HUSEYNOV (AZE), who crashed all the chances of his opponent in the third round of the qualifiers.
In the next round it was a HUSEYNOV full of confidence who stepped on to the tatami to face the French dynamo Walide KHYAR, who had started his tournament by registering his physical commitment and opportunism, with his rough judo and disturbing kumi-kata for his opponents, made of cross-grips and close contact attacks. It was finally the Frenchman who won and found, on the way to the final, Gusman KYRGYZBAYEV (KAZ). Top seed in his quarter of the draw, KYRGYZBAYEV did not weaken against KHYAR, despite the penalties which rained down on both sides. KHYAR thought he had almost won, while a third shido was given to the Kazakh, before it was withdrawn and the tricolor judoka then made a small mistake which cost him the final.
The second Kazakh entered in the category, Magzhan SHAMSHADIN (KAZ), also had a very good run in the preliminary rounds, while the son of KOGA Toshihiko, the legend of judo, who passed away recently, KOGA Genki (JPN), was expected at a higher level in Budapest, but saw his medal dreams fly away in the second round.
At the bottom of the draw, Yago ABULADZE (RJF), already a winner in Budapest, during the Grand Slam in October 2020, came out without a scratch and ended up beating SHAMSHADIN, to avoid a 100% Kazakh final.
Final KYRGYZBAYEV, Gusman (KAZ) vs. ABULADZE, Yago (RJF)
Bronze Medal Contests HUSEYNOV, Karamat (AZE) vs. SHAMSHADIN, Magzhan (KAZ) GARRIGOS, Francisco (ESP) vs. KHYAR, Walide (FRA)
Final Results 1. ABULADZE, Yago (RJF) 2. KYRGYZBAYEV, Gusman (KAZ) 3. GARRIGOS, Francisco (ESP) 3. HUSEYNOV, Karamat (AZE) 5. KHYAR, Walide (FRA) 5. SHAMSHADIN, Magzhan (KAZ) 7. GERCHEV, Yanislav (BUL) 7. LKHAGVAJAMTS, Unubold (MGL)