The third and final round of 32 match was between Italy and Hungary. Pirelli threw Veg for a waza-ari early and managed the remainder of the contest very well. Toniolo threw Pupp for ippon but it took 7 minutes to do it. Lombardo was more decisive! Polling versus Ozbas was next from 3-0 to Italy but the Hungarian managed to pull a point back, throwing Polling for waza-ari in golden score. Toth then beat Parlati to take the 4-1 win.
In the Netherlands versus Serbia round of 16 match, Kukolj scored the winner against Michael Korrel to take them to 4-2 up, no need for a rematch there. Beurskens and Van Lieshout won but it wasn’t enough to take the team through.
Also in the round of 16, Japan stepped up for the first time, with an incredible team but one which had severely underperformed in the individual event. They would be seeking redemption on day 8. Against Spain, Uta Abe came from waza-ari down from yoko-gake and threw Toro Soler with o-goshi; ippon given but downgraded to waza-ari and then she threw again right on the bell with sode-tsuri-komi-goshi. Cases Roca held Hashimoto for ippon. Takaichi won in ne-waza. Mosakhlishvili gave Murao a very hard time but went waza-ari down and couldn’t get it back.
At +70 kg Takayama vs Tsunoda Roustant was outside of the Spaniard’s normal weight category. She won too, on penalties, outworking the Japanese fighter. Saito vs Sherazadishvili was quite a spectacle especially when Sherazadishvili countered Saito’s uchi-mata for waza-ari still with 2 minutes to go. Not even conceding a shido, the former -90 kg world champion fought the most intelligent two minutes and brought the score to 3-3. The random draw threw up the -70 kg category for a direct golden score rematch in which Cabana Perez was thrown for ippon by Takaichi. It was a close call for Japan winning with a 4-3 scoreline.
France versus Israel began with Cysqiue and Nelson Levy, who scored early on, but the French now double Olympic medallist replied in fine style and threw for the maximum score. Gaba was up next to face Butbul for an 8 minute marathon. Gaba out-attacked the Israeli and gave the impression he could not lose. He didn’t! Gahie next, back after a disappointing individual event. She threw Sharir in the opening seconds of the contest. From that point, every time Sharir came forward to attack, Marie-Eve had a counter ready and with just over a minute to go she found the osae-komi position to convert her waza-ari to ippon. Ngayap-Hambou then closed the door on Israel, throwing Muki twice to reach the 4th all-important point.
The next match was between Germany and Austria. The changes in weight category for the team event offer such unexpected contests. Tanzer looked completely outgunned by Starke and was duly thrown for ippon with ko-soto-gake immediately. Gassner then levelled things by throwing Igor Wandtke twice. Miriam Butkereit, Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist at -70 kg then stepped up to face Lubjana Piovesana who placed 5th at -63 kg four days ago. It didnt last long, Germany moving to 2-1 ahead. Trippel against Wahid Borchashvili was next, the former winning on penalties. That was it, 4-0.
Kazakhstan versus Brazil brought lightweight Abuzhakynova a hard time, facing Olympic and double world champion at -57 kg Rafaela Silva. Silva scored twice to pass the baton to Daniel Cargnin but the scoreline evened up. Quadros took the next point for Brazil but from a leading position Macedo then lost to Zhubanazarat in the -90 kg fight. Beatriz Souza, still on a high from becoming Olympic champion only 15 hours before, then faced Berlikash. How difficult it must be to manage the team event after either a huge win or a huge loss, but Souza held her nerve and threw her opponent in golden score. Gonclaves confirmed the win for his team.
In the Korea-Turkiye match, Korea went 3-0 up very quickly but then Zgank stepped froward for Türkiye and held Han for ippon to offer hope to his team. Kim versus Ozdemir was next, a rematch from yesterday’s bronze medal contest which had gone Korea’s way. The result was the same second time round and so Korea won 4-1. Türkiye were out.
Georgia against Italy then began with a huge win in the opening seconds from Eteri Liparteliani, throwing Giuffrida for ippon. Shavadatuashvili and Lombardo were next on to the tatami. Lomby took the victory, Polling then beat Askiliashvili, Bekauri the new double Olympic champion beat Parlati. However, next was Somkhishvili against the new -78 kg Olympic champion Alice Bellandi, in the +70 kg category. More than over-zealous with her gripping, striking Bellandi across the face more than once, the Georgian was disqualified and so Sulamanidze’s win against Pirelli brought the scores to 3-3. The rematch was drawn at -73 kg; tense times for both teams. Lombardo repeated his earlier result though, throwing Shavdatuashvili and sending Italy into the quarter-final. Georgia were out.
Uzbekistan faced Canada in the last of the round of 16 matches. Newly crowned Deguchi faced Aminova, one of the up and coming Uzbek women who is already knocking at the door against great champions. In fact the Uzbek beat the Canadian on penalties and then Margelidon lost to Yuldoshev, leaving Beauchemin-Pinard with a lot of work to do against Matniyazova but she was too strong, 3-0 to Uzbekistan. Bobonov then continued the Uzbek momentum to take it to 4-0, a fast win against Canada.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals are coming soon…