We barely noticed the time passing, such was the energy on the tatami. 42 seconds into golden score the Mongolian received a penalty and her response was to throw the Italian with osoto-gari for waza-ari, moving into a semi-final against the number 5 seed, Wakana Koga (JPN), who beat Costa (POR) to get there.
On the bottom half of the draw Blandine Pont (FRA), by ranking, should have met Milica Nikolic in the semi-final, with them being the 2nd and 3rd ranked athletes on the sheet. However, only Nikolic (SRB) respected the hierarchy, passing Tanzer (AUT) and Ganbaatar (MGL) along the way.
Pont, despite being the world number 4, promoted to number two in Budapest in the absence of Boukli (FRA) and Tsunoda (JPN), couldn’t quite find her sharpest judo and against Martinez Abelenda (ESP), in the round of 16, she lost on penalties in golden score, in a contest that was far more explosive than the scoreline suggested. There were not only many standing attacks close to scoring but also a sincere to and fro style on the ground with both willing to engage in kansetsu-waza, among other potentially match-finishing scenarios.
Martinez Abelenda had done what should have been the hardest work of the morning session but it was not enough. Unseeded American Maria Celia Laborde was on excellent form, employing strong tactical awareness to deal with Rishony (ISR) and Lin (TPE) before blocking the Spaniard’s path to gold in the quarter-final. Laborde then surprised the Serbian too, leapfrogging her to land squarely in the final with Koga.
The first bronze medal contest, between Scutto and Nikolic was all Scutto from beginning to end. She dominated the gripping aggressively and never looked under pressure. It took time for the score to arrive but it did, an unorthodox grip and a fast ko-soto-gake put a waza-ari on the board, which she held until the time ran out.
The second bronze medal contest was fought by Martinez Abelenda and Bavuudorj, with the Mongolian pushing on like a bulldozer, constantly adding power and pressure from one exchange to the next. The Spanish fight was able to only introduce occasional dropping techniques but the onslaught was unrelenting. With less than 30 seconds to go and with 2 penalties already against her name, Martinez Abelenda had no choice but to attack and this time her unsuccessful placement left Bavuudorj with an opportunity in transition, which she took gratefully, spinning on the arm and sinking into an inescapable juji-gatame for bronze.
In the final, although both were willing to put all their effort into throwing the other, it took Koga less than one and a half minutes to launch an ippon-scoring seoi-otoshi for gold. The American has had an outstanding day and at 33 years of age, it looks like she has secured her spot in Paris next year. Wakana Koga takes the gold and makes her own bid for the Paris Games.
Final (-48 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-48 kg)
