Ai Shishime takes second IJF World Tour gold in 2016

Japanese World number 10 Shishime Ai won her first Grand Slam gold medal as she defeated European bronze medallist Yulia Ryzhova of Russia in the U52kg final. Shishime, who has been behind Nakamura Misato and Nishida Yuka in the Japanese pecking order, is now established as the number one candidate for Tokyo 2020 albeit at this early stage.

Ryzhova was penalised for not taking a grip and the home fans urged their fighter to attack but Shishime was cool in the closing seconds as she wrapped up her opponent on the ground to wind down the clock and open her Grand Slam gold medal account.

The first bronze medal contest was won by Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix bronze medallist Tena Sikic of Croatia who defeated Celje European Cup silver medallist Anna Pashina (RUS) with a stop-start uchi-mata earning a yuko. Sikic, 22, has now won back-to-back IJF medals in her two appearances on the tour as she produced the only score of this medal contest and the Croatian will be among the favourites at the Zagreb Grand Prix in September. In the second bronze medal fight 23-year-old Aigul Tashtimirova (RUS) prevailed over world number 91 Antonina Kirievskaya (RUS) in a contest which failed to ignite but the home fans were nonetheless always going to be happy with the outcome. Both judoka were fighting for a Grand Slam medal for the first time and Kirievskaya was penalised with a shido for ducking underneath to avoid the grip of her opponent. That penalty decided the scoreless contest as Tashtimirova stepped onto a Grand Slam podium for the first time.