Abigel Joo starts new Olympic bid with gold in Zagreb

Hungarian Abigel Joo has a short-term goal of winning her home World Championships next year in Budapest and a long-term goal of winning the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Joo, 26, finished seventh at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, having finished fifth at London 2012, while her U78kg final adversary Guusje Steenhuis of the Netherlands was overlooked for Rio 2016 by the Dutch Judo Federation.

World Judo Masters bronze medallist Steenhuis started the day as the favourite for gold but Joo outworked her in the gold medal contest and scored a yuko from a ko-uchi-gake with 40 seconds left which was the only score of the four minute contest.

In the first semi-final Steenhuis needed a last-gasp waza-ari score to see off Croatian Brigita Matic as the latter was unable to follow in her older sister’s footsteps but could still maintain hope of a route onto the medal podium. Former Youth Olympic Games winner Brigita was leading with a yuko from a makikomi effort but lacked composure in the final seconds and the seasoned Dutchwoman Steenhuis produced the biggest score of the contest to advance into the gold medal contest.

In the second semi-final two-time Olympian Joo Abigel, who was Budapest Grand Prix bronze medallist, dispatched former Samsun Grand Prix bronze medallist of France Sama Hawa Camara in just 13 seconds with a flashing ashi-waza movement to book an enticing final between the two most accomplished U78kg judoka in the competition.

The first bronze medal was won by Camara as France’s number three beat Budapest Grand Prix bronze medallist Karen Stevenson (NED) to grace an IJF medal podium for the first time. Camara, who has double Olympic medallist Audrey Tcheumeo and Samsun Grand Prix winner Madeleine Malonga ahead of her, scored a waza-ari from a sasae-tsurikomi-ashi and sealed her medal with an osoto-makikomi earning a second and match-winning waza-ari.

The second bronze medal contest was won by former Orenburg European Cup silver medallist Antonina Shmeleva (RUS) as Junior world champion Matic could not compete having sustained a pectoral injury in the last second of her last contest.