Highlights From the Women’s Preliminaries - Day 7

Of the top four seeds on this seventh and final day of individual competition, three made it to the final block. The other, second seed Lea Fontaine (FRA), exited early and with no possibility of a place in the repechage.

Raz Hershko (ISR), from pole position, went through her half of the draw with little trouble until the semi-final stage. There she met 19-year-old Hyeonji Lee (KOR), a judoka on a mission and her positive run was cut short. Hershko attacked with an osoto-gari but from a difficult grip. Lee stepped back and countered with a ko-soto-gake for ippon. The contest was just 48 seconds long, a clear sign that Lee arrived fully prepared.

Hyeonji Lee’s judo was fast, powerful and immediate in Baku throughout the morning session. Moira Morillo (DOM) was first to feel it.

Elsewhere, unseeded Russian judoka Mariia Ivanova had a great day. She threw Georgia’s Sophio Somkishvili for ippon with osoto-gari in just 5 seconds before dispatching Fontaine with a throw and a hold. Against Japan’s Mao Arai she didn’t have to work as hard as Arai applied an illegal joint lock and was duly disqualified. As it was a direct hansoku-make, Arai would not appear in the repechage either. Japan was therefore left without a judoka in the final block.

Ivanova was out of luck once she arrived at the semi-final stage. Double Olympic medallist and 2022 world champion Romane Dicko held her down for ippon to move into another world final. Ivanova would have the chance to fight for bronze, a positive end to a really good day.

In the last session of the individual competition, the heavyweights will fight for world championship medals under the spotlights of the National Gymnastics Arena. All fights can be followed live via JudoTV.com.