Jinesinuer Ayiman (CHN) had a tough challenge ahead but in the firs t4 minutes she led by attack-rate alone and this sent two penalties Fontaine’s way. It looked as though the French judoka might not meet her goal after all, but in golden score she countered an attack from Ayiman and earned herself a much-needed yuko. Fontaine had done it, she secured the gold she laid claim to at the beginning of the day.
The first bronze medal contest of the category caused the volume to rise in the Steppe Arena as Adiyasuren Amarsaikhan stepped on to the tatami in the hunt for a gong at home. She faced Helena Vukovic (CRO) and it wasn’t an easy draw.
In the first minute, Amarsaikhan almost arm locked her opponent but couldn’t quite secure it and so the fight continued with no other potentially decisive moments all the way up to the bell. The golden score period began and the penalties started to mount up, 2 for the host’s judoka and one for the Croatian.
After little more than a minute of extra time, Amarsaikhan attempted a makikomi which was close to unbalancing Vukovic. She attacked again and again and this lead to the penalties being evened up. Vukovic used that as her motivation to increase the pressure and she threw for a waza-ari two and a half minutes into extra time. This is Helena Vukovic’s third grand slam bronze medal to date.
In the second bronze medal contest, both Ye Liang (CHN) and Nominal Dambadarjaa (MGL) kept the pace high and looked for effective attacks. However, both lacked precision and this earned them each two penalties just ahead of the final bell. Dambadarjaa seemed to have the edge in ne-waza though and she threatened the shime-waza several times. With a single second left on the clock, she applied another but Liang turned on to her back to escape it and Dambadarjaasecured the osaekomi. The time meant there was no way for Liang to respond and so this bronze medal would be staying in Mongolia.
Final (+78 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (+78 kg)
