However, in the -52 kg category, all the attention was on Uta Abe (JPN). Four-times a world champion and the Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, the Japanese judoka is still coming off a bitter defeat in Paris last summer. Everyone remembers her tears of distress as she left the tatami, while on the same day, her brother Hifumi won his second Olympic title. Several months after her huge disappointment, Uta Abe is back at centre stage, more motivated than ever and ready to demonstrate that Paris was just an accident in her already incredible career. That's the mark of great champions.
During the first round, she had to wait for golden score to lodge an unstoppable ippon from a right o-soto-gari against Nikolina Nisavic (SRB) who had held up pretty well until that moment. The second contest was more like those we are used to with Uta Abe since it only took her 9 seconds to put Roza Gyertyas (HUN) on her back with an opportunist’s ko-soto-gari. The champion is back!
In the final, right from the start, Ballhaus was aggressive on the kumi-kata, not wanting to give her illustrious opponent any room to place her hands. Everyone knows that this is the last thing to do against Uta Abe. But everyone also knows that the Japanese judoka can fall now. This changes the psychological approach to a fight. Despite this, Ballhaus was penalised first for passivity, while Abe performed several ground sequences that suggested that her victory might come from ne-waza today, which ultimately happened at the end of the final after she pinned down the German athlete. Uta Abe is back at the top of an international podium, for the tenth time in a grand slam, enough to give her more desire for the years to come.
The first contest for a bronze medal saw Suryeon Hwang (KOR) and Roza Gyertyas (HUN) face off for a place on the podium. It took more than 3 minutes of golden score to see the third penalty falling on Gyertyas' shoulders, offering the bronze medal to Suryeon Hwang, the first ever medal for the Korean judoka in the World Judo Tour.
Nikolina Nisavic (SRB) and Ayumi Leiva Sanchez (ESP) had one more chance to complete the podium. The contest was tense, none of the competitors being able to take the advantage, even though it looked like Ayumi Leiva Sanchez had power on her side. With less than 30 seconds to go she eventually concluded with a counter-attack to send Nisavic flat on her back for ippon. This is medal number four in a grand slam for Ayumi Leiva Sanchez.
Final (-52 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-52 kg)
