Japanese cadet Akira Sone takes the fast lane to junior glory

Youngster Sone Akira dispatched her Japanese compatriot Kodama Hikaru to win her second world title and first at the junior level. Düsseldorf Grand Prix bronze medallist Sone is just 17 and she won the Cadet World Championships on 2015.

She skipped the U18 Championships this year in order to focus on her Junior worlds bid and that proved to be the right decision as the Tokyo Grand Slam silver medallist beat a newcomer to the IJF stage in 19-year-old Kodama. A left-sided makikomi effort was the only score of the contest and was in the favour of the younger judoka who is again set to be a major contender at her home Grand Slam in December. However Sone is by far not the youngest champion.

In the first semi-final Kodama threw former Cadet European championships silver medallist Anita Formela (POL) with a textbook uchi-mata after 45 seconds for ippon. In the second semi-final Sone held down 17-year-old Junior Asian Championships winner Kamila Berlikash (KAZ) for 20 seconds for a straightforward victory to move into the gold medal contest.

The first bronze medal was claimed by 20-year-old two-time Havana Grand Prix competitor Eliannis Aguilar (CUB) who drove Berlikash over with a ko-soto-gake for ippon. Aguilar, who lost her opening contest at the senior World Championships in August, won her country’s second medal of the competition as their women finished with two medals from three competitors.

The second bronze medal contest was won by senior Pan American Championships gold medallist Beatriz Souza (BRA) after Formela received her third shido after an insipid display.

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