DAY 4: Japan Top the Medal Top in the Presence of Lord Coe

Results -70 kg

The first contest of the last final block of the individual competition was an -70 kg bronze medal debate between Nadie Jaafar (BUL) and Nina Muteba (FRA). At first Jaafar seemed the more aggressive but it was Muteba who registered the first score, mirrored a minute later to make it a waza-ari apiece. A minute into golden score and Muteba almost score her second waza-ari with a hold down but just missed out. Almost 4 more minutes were fought before Jaafar collected the penalties required to send the victory to Muteba and France.

The second bronze medal contest of the category was fought for by Oliinyk-Korniiko (UKR) and Xanne Van Lijf (NED). It was a long contest with neither competitor able to finish their attacks. It took Van Lijf more than 5 minutes to find herself holding her opponent. It’s the second bronze medal for the Netherlands at this cadet worlds.

In the final Nika Slacek (CRO) and Lucie Rullier (FRA) each fought for their country. The former already knew she had won Croatia’s first medal of the event while Rullier wanted to be France’s first champion in Lima. Rullier got her wish, throwing Slacek for ippon with ashi-guruma with just over two minutes of the contest gone.

Results -90 kg

In the first -90 kg contest, Ukraine’s Arkadii Samoilov caught Jabiyev (SWE) beautifully with a well timed o-uchi-gari early for waza-ari. From there he continued to apply good, technical judo, not allowing Jabiyev to take back any control at all. However, Jabiyev somehow made space for a tiny ko-uchi-gari and levelled the scores, disturbing Samoilov’s composure. A short time into golden score he then doubled the ante and threw with a de-ashi-harai to seoi-otoshi combination and won Sweden’s first medal of this championship.

Gelashvili of Georgia and Sonntag of France battled for the second -90 kg bronze medal but not for long. In the first exchange they grappled for control but as the Georgian attempted to pick his opponent up, Sonntag slipped a ko-uchi into play and scored ippon.

Dmytro Lebid (UKR) and Sanzhar Yerulanuly (KAZ) reached the final after a tough day of competition in Lima. The latter almost won with an armlock not long after ‘hajime,’ a clue as to his ne-waza ability. Although Lebid escaped, he was held just into the last minute for ippon, giving Kazakhstan their first medal of the tournament, a very special gold.

Results +70 kg

Emma Feuillet-Nguimgo (FRA) stepped up to face Kristyna Kaszperova (CZE) for the first +70 kg bronze medal. The Czech athlete flew in with a huge uchi-mata, catching the Frenchwoman unawares, concluding on the floor straight away. Czechia can be happy to have their first medal of this cadet worlds.

Gabriele Silva was aiming at extending the already excellent Brazilian medal haul in Lima but Emma-Melis Aktas (EST) was present off the back of an excellent morning’s work and wasn’t going to relinquish the medal easily. In fact, she didn’t, throwing and holding the Brazilian just into the last minute of contest time.

The cadet world number one and world number two fought the final, obeying the rankings perfectly. Banaszewska (POL) and Leonie Minkada-Caquineau looked in a league of their own throughout the day and the final continued to be a collection of strong, well-prepared attacks but with each judoka defending well when in danger. There was a shido apiece at the top minute mar which spurred the Polish athlete to launch a strong left uchi-mata which wasn’t far away from scoring. With only 20 seconds left Banaszewska countered Minkada-Caquineau for waza-ari and it was enough for gold, a first gold of the tournament for Poland following a silver and 4 bronzes on previous days.

Results +90 kg

In the last individual category of the Lima World Championships Cadets 2024, Da Costa (FRA) and Kobaladze (GEO) faced of for a bronze medal. The Georgian, in an uncontrolled flurry, put in a seoi-otoshi early, that lost control at the end but produced a scorable landing. He doubled down in the next exchange, throwing Da Costa with a very fast makikomi. It was bronze for Kobaladze and 5th place for Da Costa.

France had a second opportunity to win bronze with Kevin Nzuzi Diasivi who stood in front of Japan’s Kiyomu Miki in the penultimate contest of the day. The Frenchman tried a number of strong seoi-otoshi entries before Miki really attacked, although he did step in for a very fast shime-waza counter on one occasion but it was unsuccessful. At the halfway point Miki was down two penalties to one. At that point Nzuzi Diasivi encouraged a reaction from Miki and used it to throw him for waza-ari with the seoi-otoshi he had threatened with throughout. He then stood his ground and earned himself an excellent world cadet medal. This is a heavyweight for the future!

In the final, the last contest of the individual event, Marek-Adrian Masak (EST) took on Rustem Kadzaev (IJF) for the world cadet +90 kg crown. Both went for the big prize, with energy and skill. Kadzaev scored first with an o-uchi-gari. He continued to attack more strongly than his opponent and eventually the Estonian judoka received three penalties and Kadzaev could call himself a world champion.

At the end of a fantastic 4 days of individual competition, Japan have taken the top spot on the overall medal table by the slimmest of margins, ahead of Azerbaijan, France and Brazil. The young athletes from all 22 countries which claimed medals can look into their futures knowing that with work, consistency and support they have proven they have what it takes to be competitive on the world stage and that is irreplaceable knowledge to take with them into the next stage of their careers.

Tune in to JudoTV at 12:30pm to watch the Lima World Cadet Championship mixed team event.