Her opponent in the final was the top seed of pool D, Elis Startseva (IJF), after she won against the Chinese athlete Jinesinuer Ayiman in the semi-final with two indisputable waza-ari throws.
If Startseva seemed to take advantage of her taller size and was about to pin her opponent, at the last moment, Arai turned the situation round and controlled Startseva for 20 seconds for ippon; the gold medal going to Arai.
The first match for a bronze medal saw Ruri Takahashi (JPN) face Jinesinuer Ayiman (CHN). In the golden score period, Takahashi managed to turn an o-soto-gari into a seoi-otoshi for waza-ari. This bronze medal was assigned to Takahashi.
Who could win between the Japanese athlete Chihiro Yamaguchi and the Korean judoka Hayun Kim for the second bronze medal at stake? The answer was clearly Yamaguchi with a o-uchi-gari engaged as she was taking the grip. Ippon! And it’s another bronze medal for Japan!
Final (+78 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (+78 kg)
