French legend Riner adds to legacy in Jeju

Olympic champion and seven-time world champion Teddy Riner of France eased to victory in the heavyweight category and the last final of the day on Saturday. Riner defeated number two seed Kim Sung-Min (KOR) who was unwilling to engage with the French legend and paid the price as he received four shido penalties.

Riner earns 300 points for gold but remains second on the World Ranking List 40 points behind Rafael Silva (BRA) who competes next week in Tokyo.

In the first semi-final Riner, who is undefeated since 2010, swept past Abu Dhabi Grand Slam silver medallist Vladut Simionescu (ROU) with little resistance. Riner scored waza-ari with an ouchi-gari on the edge of the area and added a second waza-ari to take his anticipated place in the final. In the second semi-final 2011 world bronze medallist Kim saw off Abu Dhabi Grand Maciej Sarnacki (POL). The Korean produced a waza-ari from a harai-makikomi and the Polish fighter was unable to continue due to injury.

The first bronze medal went to Sarnacki defeated Lisbon European Open silver medallist Sergey Kesaev (RUS) who come from behind to claim a place on the podium. Sarnacki trailed by a waza-ari until Kesaev lost his footing and was held down for 20 seconds to lose by ippon. The second bronze medal went Simionescu who beat Tashkent Grand Prix winner Battulga Temuulen (MGL) by ippon with one minute and 27 seconds left on the clock.

World silver medallist and Olympic bronze medallist Audrey Tcheumeo (FRA) chalked up a richly-deserved victory in Jeju as she claimed gold by defeating Abu Dhabi Grand Slam winner Luise Malzahn (GER). World number four Malzahn twice with the latter indiscretion coming for stepping out of the area which Tcheumeo was also called up on. Neither judoka could register a score as two of the leading judoka in the category contested a competitive contest.  

In the first semi-final Tcheumeo defeated Olympic champion Kayla Harrison (USA) to secure a place in the final. In their five previous meetings, Harrison had won two, with their last meeting coming at the 2011 World Championships when the Frenchwoman won a semi-final on her way to gold. Tcheumeo and Harrison traded shido penalties before Tcheumeo seized the initiative with a yuko and held on to take a narrow win.