The queen, Uta Abe (JPN), is not afraid to come up against her opponents and she was therefore present on the tatami of the Metropolitan Gymnasium to assert her supremacy. It's always great to see the best athletes on the planet in action. We like their ability to always question themselves and above all we like to watch them evolve, especially when they have the level of Uta Abe. Let's also be clear, this does not prevent us from following the other athletes in the category, some of whom have great judo to show and some, why not, could tickle the queen.
In the second half of the draw it was interesting to follow a certain Deguchi, not an unknown name in the world of judo. This one is Kelly though, the little sister of Christa, who competed on day one. Actually Kelly Deguchi had a pretty good start, with two clear victories. She was then defeated by Ai Shishime (JPN), no less that two times a world champion. There is still some work to be done by Deguchi but we will definitely follow her in the months to come. She also lost in the repechage.
When the time came to analyse the results, Uta Abe was qualified in the final, logically. Impressive throughout the preliminary rounds, she faced the two-time world champion, Ai Shishime (JPN), who was the only one today who could bother her, and obviously this was the case. After four minutes of normal time, there was still no score, only a one shido difference between the two competitors, 1 for Abe, 2 for Shishime, whose attacks were strong but not enough to put Abe out of balance. The match kept unfolding for more than four minutes in golden score. If Uta Abe was never really in danger, she could not find any solution to throw either and had to rely on her tactical skills to win a new title as the third shido was awarded to Shishime. Abe is still the queen.
The two bronze medals went to Kisumu Omori (JPN) and Sosorbaram Lkhagvasuren (MGL).
Final (-52 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-52 kg)
