Karolina Talach steals the show U63kg in Zagreb

Polish judoka Karolina Talach had the measure of Tyumen Grand Slam bronze medallist Diana Dzhigaros of Russia in the first final on day two in Zagreb. This time a big individual title for Talach who helped the Polish team to become European Team Champion.

Russia’s 21-year-old Junior World Championships silver medallist was making her Grand Prix debut and was an impressive performer despite ending up second best in the final as Talach took advantage of a half-hearted sode-tsurikomi-goshi attempt for a yuko score which settled the contest at the end of the four minutes.

In the first semi-final Talach, Tallinn European Open bronze medallist in Tallinn some weeks ago, defeated 19-year-old Junior European Championships silver medallist Andreja Leski (SLO) in added time. There was nothing to separate the gold medal hopefuls in the regulation four minutes so golden score was required and in the second minute Talach drove over her opponent for a yuko score with a tani-otoshi to secure her place in the final.

In the second semi-final Dzhigaros came from behind to beat Tallinn European Open silver medallist Magdalena Krssakova (AUT). The Russian fighter was countered for a yuko but fought back to win by ippon as she held down Krssakova with a mune-gatame for 20 seconds and ippon.

The first bronze medal was won by world number 50 Krssakova against former Abu Dhabi Grand Slam bronze medallist Agata Ozdoba (POL) in the first contest between them. The world number 51 from Poland was looking to move above her opponent on the IJF World Ranking List but instead the Austrian increased the gap between them by countering the former for a yuko after 46 seconds of golden score. The second bronze medal was won by 22-year-old Rotem Shor (ISR) as she beat junior Leski to seal a place on the IJF medal podium for the first time. Leski finished fifth for the second successive year in Croatia as she was thrown by a ouchi-gari for ippon after 90 seconds to conclude a strong showing for Shor.