Nairne has made it into highlight reels on the WJT in the past despite not reaping the rostrum-based rewards. She throws with everything she has and she’s brave, taking great satisfaction from competing in fun fights and pushing herself towards the spectacular! She’s unpredictable and wild and with this mix she caught Gjakova for a waza-ari with a super-low o-uchi-gari in the middle of the contest. It can happen to anyone but Nora was not pleased. Somehow though, she couldn’t get into the gripping or reconcile the instability of the match. No strategy was strong enough to deal with the frenzy of Nairne. It came close with the shido game but the Brit was able to protect her position and move into a semi-final against 2019 world champion Christa Deguchi (CAN). That fight didn’t go the same way and although it went into golden score, Deguchi didn’t look in danger and eventually took the win in golden score.
Nekoda Davis (GBR), 2017 and 2018 world medallist was also in the group and has been making an impressive comeback following her 3 year lay-off with injury and then starting her family. She won an Open in Italy a few weeks ago, placed 7th in Abu Dhabi and in the first round in Baku she threw her Mongolian opponent for ippon inside 40 seconds. The second round didn’t follow her playbook and she lost against number 3 seed Libeer (BEL).
Nekoda said, “It’s interesting coming back to a group that isn’t the same as when I left it in 2019. There are new faces taking results. Some old faces are still doing well. The category is really open now and come the Games in 2024 I think there will be some unexpected new medallists. Between Rio and Tokyo there was a large group all capable of winning those big medals but the group was essentially the same from tournament to tournament. I still need to get the correct feeling back, to feel the rules and the pace and where the exact danger is."
"My teammate Lele Nairne has done amazingly well today and I feel that having someone like her in my category will only push me to get better. GBR will qualify someone for the Paris Games and because of the internal push between us, that person will be ready. I’m enjoying the start of this new race.”
Talking of experienced fighters, Monteiro (POR), winner of uncountable World Judo Tour medals and with an array of Olympic victories and a staggering continental domination showed the judo community that she isn’t done yet! Samardzic (BIH), Ilieva (BUL) and Libeer (BEL) all fell at her say-so and a place in the final against Deguchi awaited her.
Gjakova, after her loss to Nairne, scraped through a match against Toniolo (ITA) and then her bronze medal contest. It was ugly judo and without the robustness we have seen from the Kosovan in the past but a win is a win and another WJT medal is painted in Kosovan colours. We can also add a caviat here. Gjakova has been out of competiton for quite some time. Coming back to the top level, regaining the right feeling is never instant and we know what she is capable of. We will wait for her!
Gjakova’s nemesis on this first day, Lele Nairne, fought against Ilieva for the second bronze. The Bulgarian had studied and pinned Nairne’s desire to move, keeping the fight on the centre of the mat. At a minute to go, Nairne took umbrage and lapped the mat to re-energise herself. She attacked. It failed, but it showed a renewed will and the refusal to give up the chance of winning her first grand slam medal.
At full time, with no score and no penalty to be seen, the restart immediately brought a drop in the gripping pace and a first shido for each. In a ne-waza exchange that came from almost nothing at all, a minute into golden score, Ilieva freed her trapped leg and held Nairne for ippon. It’s a devastating finish for the Brit after such a powerful beginning but Ilieva have just a little more for the medal and took her place on the rostrum for her own first grand slam medal, adding to her 4 grand prix medals.
The final was a real battle of the old masters with arguably the two competitors best equipped to overcome the challenges of all newcomers. Neither took any prisoners and when throws weren’t forthcoming they strategised like generals and won anyway. At their level the fight for the right grip is what must be won first. Against one another this was the focus and far from being dull with its throwless scoreline, it was fascinating and educational.
In normal time the Portuguese took two penalties compared with the Canadian’s single yellow card and in golden score we had the feeling that Deguchi was getting tired of the game and of the dropping attacks of Monteiro. She pinned the grip and chopped away trying to knock her rival down but not with any definitive outcome. She followed with a tomoe-nage attempt and it became clear that a 3 shido win was likely for the Pan-American. Monteiro forgot to answer the call and so it was that Deguchi won her 6th grand slam gold.
It seems Nekoda might be right in the long run but today 3 out of the 4 medallists are used to this result. Ilieva is new to this rostrum but is not new to fighting at this level. Whether or not she can sustain her course remains to be seen.
Final (-57 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-57 kg)
