Kim Polling grabs her third Masters title in Guadalajara

Kim Polling prolonged the title of the World Masters in Guadalajara. Also last year she won the gold in Rabat. Also in 2013 she was superior in Tyumen, just like Sumiya Dorjsuren on Friday she won her third which makes her once more the undisputed favourite for the Olympic title. Kim Polling scored a yuko in her final against Bernadette Graf of Austria.

Polling started her day with a victory against Barbara Matic (CRO), and via Maria Portela (BRA) and Kim SeongYeon in the semi final Polling reached the final. Graf was able to beat Yuri Alvear in the semi final by waza-ari, an important victory for the Austrian medal hope.

Polling: “My sole purpose for competing at these Masters was to get match time against likely opponents at the upcoming Olympic Games. I know not everyone was here, but there were really only two or three of the possible medal contenders missing so I feel very good at having come out on top of such a strong field. My contest with Kim Seongyeon was particularly hard which is not surprising given that we have gone head-to-head on many occasions. I was caught a couple of times and in the lead up to the Games I will work to ensure that it does not happen again.”With the qualification period at a close now Polling spoke about her plans for the lead up to Rio: “I have a holiday planned so will be taking a short break now, after which it will be back to training camps, Porec for example.”

The bronze was captured by Kim SeongYeon of Korea and Yuri Alvear of Colombia. Both ladies impressed with excellent judo today and in their medal bout. Kim defeated Sally Conway 75 seconds for the end by uranage. Triple World champion Yuri Alvear defeated Tsen-Ayush of Mongolia by ippon after 90 seconds by an osoto.

Profile Polling

Triple European Champion Kim Polling is World #1 since May 2013. She won various different Grand Slams. Was World and European Junior Champion in 2010. She won bronze at the World Championships in 2013. Polling won the IJF World Masters in 2015 and 2016. She took gold at the 2016 GP Tbilisi.