Women’s -48kg
Spain’s Laura Martinez Abelenda fought her teammate Eva Perez Soler, winner of the Zagreb Grand Prix, in the semifinal. Abelenda won with kosoto-gari which was given a yuko although it looked like Soler had completely spun out onto her front. She then fought Hui Xinran (CHN), winner of the Kazakhstan Grand Slam in the final, throwing her with ouchi-gari to score waza-ari in the first minute. It was enough to win her the match. This was Abelenda’s second IJF World Tour gold.
Men’s -60kg
Ayub Bliev won a gold medal for Russia, which is making its return to the IJF World Tour. In the final, he defeated Mongolia’s Ariunbold Enkhtaivan with a very slick combination attack of hiza-guruma followed by uki-waza for yuko at the start of the match. He held onto that lead until the end.
Women’s -52kg
Germany’s Mascha Ballhaus displayed great proficiency in throws and groundwork (she won two matches by throwing and two by groundwork) to win the gold. This is her third IJF World Tour gold medal.
Men’s -66kg
The ever-unorthodox Walide Khyar (FRA) had a bit of scare in his quarterfinal match against Abrek Naguchev (RUS) who threw him three times with three different techniques to score yuko each. But in judo, a single waza-ari trumps any number of yukos and Khyar won the match by throwing Naguchev with ura-nage for waza-ari. In the final, he faced another Russian, Murad Chopanov, who also gave him a hard time. The Russian scored first, getting a yuko from kouchi-gari. Khyar evened up the score in the last two seconds of the match with a sumi-gaeshi. Then, in Golden Score, he threw Chopanov with yet another sumi-gaeshi, for yuko, and the win. This is Khyar’s second IJF World Tour gold medal.
The USA's Bilegt Erdenetsogt lost his first match to Adrian Nieto Chinarro (ESP) who threw him with hikikomi-gaeshi. Erdenetsogt managed to throw Chinarro with hiza-guruma in the dying seconds of their match but the score was only yuko.
Women’s -57kg
Huh Mimi (KOR) also displayed good throwing skills and groundwork on her way winning the gold. She threw two opponents with reverse seoi-nage and pinned two of them as well. This is Huh’s fifth IJF World Tour gold medal.
