-57kg: Top Seed Yildiz Wins for Türkiye

We pointed it out yesterday that even if the Japanese team is not ultra dominant, it is still at the top of the general ranking and it will be difficult to catch up. However, it is nice to see that competition is present among the other nations. In 2021 Japan was not present in Olbia for the Junior World Championships. This opened some doors, which did not all close and through which many delegations were engulfed. This has now produced a high quality spectacle in Ecuador and it also promises glorious years for world judo.

The final started with obvious intentions from Omori to control the right arm of Yildiz, but the Japanese judoka was penalised quickly for blocking the grip and a moment later she picked up a second penalty for passivity, putting her in a difficult position, that actually didn't seem to bother her too much. She just had to be careful not to get the third shido. After four minutes of intense gripping it was time for golden score. With a powerful change of direction and an acrobatic sumi-gaeshi, without even having the leg engaged, Yildiz scored a waza-ari which offered her the gold medal, the first one of this championships won by the top seeded athlete of a group.

There is no longer any need to introduce Brazil, with its countless world and Olympic champions and medallists. It's no secret that the recurring quality of Brazilian judo begins with the youngest ones. Bianca Reis (BRA) is a good example of this, having qualified for the bronze medal contest, against the Italian Veronica Toniolo (ITA), who was keen to imitate her compatriots who won medals the day before.

With a shido apiece, Toniolo and Reis reached golden score, where after six minutes they were still to decide who would win. Then with two shido on each side, the tension raised a notch and we had to wait six and a half minutes into golden score to see Toniolo score to win the bronze medal.

Marta Garcia Martin (ESP) did not have an easy match trying to get on the podium as she faced Rin Egichi (JPN). The contest started with a faster rhythm than the first bronze medal match, as Eguchi quickly scored a first waza-ari to take the lead. It then felt clear that Garcia Martin did not have the tools to score against the strong Japanese competitor. It is not that Garcia Martin did not try, but she was dominated by Eguchi's left hand, who easily controlled the rest of the contest to win the bronze medal.