Guusje Steenhuis defends Grand Slam title in Baku

Dutch Guusje Steenhuis won the Grand Slam in Baku U78kg title for the second year in a row with a determined showing on Sunday. The European silver medallist was due to meet teammate Marhinde Verkerk (NED) in the U78kg final but the latter sustained a knee injury in her previous contest and was unable to go up against Steenhuis. The victory is the third for Steenhuis at a Grand Slam and now the -78kg standout will focus on the upcoming World Judo Masters.

In the first semi-final Steenhuis defeated world champion Umeki Mami (JPN) in a bold display as the Dutch fighter looked past the red backpatch of Japanese and secured the right to fight in the -78kg final. Steenhuis kept Umeki at bay in regular time and was unable to trouble the scoreboard herself which led the contest into golden score and it was Rio 2016 pick Umeki who was penalised and failed to reach the final. In the second semi-final European Championships bronze medallist Luise Malzahn (GER) fell to Tbilisi Grand Prix winner Verkerk by a yuko score to guarantee gold and silver medals for the Netherlands.

The first bronze medal was won by Malzahn who fought off the challenge of Zagreb Grand Prix silver medallist Victoriia Turks (UKR) to win the sixth Grand Slam medal of her career. Malzahn registered a yuko which was the only score of the contest and was enough for bronze. The second bronze medal contest was won by Umeki who trapped Olympic silver medallist Gemma Gibbons (GBR) in osaekomi for 20 seconds with a sankaku-gatame for ippon. Umeki is still only 21 and is gaining top level experience on the IJF World Judo Tour while Gibbons has work to do to topple Natalie Powell (GBR) in Britain’s battle for the -78kg berth in Brazil.