It was a beautiful opportunity for India to get a gold medal at the world championships, especially after a great semi-final where she executed a perfect o-uchi-gari. The final started very well for Linthoi Chanambam, who scored a really nice waza-ari. A difficult time began though as she had to keep that advantage alive. Despite the incredible pressure she had on her shoulders and a couple of shido later, she could celebrate an historic gold medal for India; the first medal of any colour and in any age category at the world level. Congratulations champion!
The first contest for a third place on the podium opposed Julia Bulanda (POL) and Savita Russo (ITA). Since the beginning of the competition, we have seen a lot of drop techniques from the sleeves, which can either sometimes score but often get penalised as false attacks.
The match between Bulanda and Russo started with a couple of these and Bulanda was penalised with a shido. After some nice work on the ground, after having extracted her leg, Savita Russo then pinned her opponent for a waza-ari. She then just had to stay in control until the end to enjoy this bronze medal.
Anna Gulite (LAT) and Emma Melis (FRA) qualified for the second match for a bronze medal. Despite being the favourite of this bout, Emma Melis didn't seem to be in her best form as Anna Gulite dominated her physically but with less than a minute to go, it was Gulite who received the first penalty of the match, followed by one for Melis for a false attack.
It must be noted that throughout the competition so far, we have seen very few strategic matches. Cadets are going for ippon and that is really nice to see. Nevertheless, some cadets and maybe moreover some of their coaches are still not fully accustomed to the rules and some mistakes came from that. In the meantime, the French judoka was penalised a second time as golden score started. A third penalty awarded to Melis offered the bronze medal to Gulite.
Final (-57 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-57 kg)
Final Results (-57 kg)
