Chen Chen captures Chinese gold in Qingdao

World number 115 Chen Chen of China will skyrocket up the world rankings after winning her country’s Grand Prix by beating Orenburg European Cup bronze medallist Galiya Sagitova of Russia in the -52kg final. Chen, who was fifth here in 2012, won the scoreless final on shido penalties as Sagitova was reprimanded for not attacking and then again for passivity while the former was only penalised once.

China and Russia were the two leading nations in Qingdao and on this occasion it was the home nation who prospered.

In the first semi-final little-known Chen Wei (CHN) lost out to Sagitova in golden score by a shido for passivity. At the end of regulation time both judoka had a shido with Chen being penalised for dropping and Sagitova for not taking a grip. Sagitova pressed the action in golden score and after three a half minutes the referee had seen enough to penalise the Chinese judoka. In the second semi-final former Orenburg European Cup bronze medallist Natalia Pavlova (RUS) was defeated by Chen who guaranteed herself a home Grand Prix medal at her third attempt after winning by a yuko score.

The first bronze medal was clinched by Taipei Asian Open winner Chen Chin-Ying (TPE) who scored a yuko and followed up in ne-waza by freeing a leg to apply the osaekomi for 20 seconds and ippon. Chen looked impressive as she won her country’s second medal of the competition by countering a tani-otoshi and overpowering the Russian on the ground. The second bronze medal was won by Chen who emphatically dismissed 17-year-old Junior Asian Cup medallist Annie Lau (HKG) after just 14 seconds with a textbook sode-tsurikomi-goshi for ippon.