Japan captured Qingdao gold U70kg by Erina Ike

Japanese Ike Erina won her second IJF Grand Prix gold medal with a bold display on day two in Qingdao. Previously she won the Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix. On Saturday Ike, who finished a notable fifth at the Tokyo Grand Slam last year, faced former World Judo Masters winner Hwang Ye-Sul (KOR) in the final as the South Korean standout was fighting for the very first time in 2016.

Ike took a commanding lead with a waza-ari as she held down the South Korean for 17 seconds as the latter escaped to keep the contest and her gold medal hopes alive. The Japanese judoka went back to the same technique seconds later and this time there was to be no escape as Hwang was powerless to resist her young opponent.

In the first semi-final Abu Dhabi Grand Slam bronze medallist Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown (GBR) lost out to Hwang by a yuko which came after 25 seconds with a determined uchi-mata which caught the Brit by surprise. In the second semi-final Ike saw off four-time Grand Prix winner Chen Fei (CHN) on shido penalties after four scoreless minutes of judo. Chen was penalised twice while Ike was reprimanded once and the home fighter moved down into one of the two bronze medals contests.

The first bronze medal was claimed by Chen who bested Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist Iana Dibrina (RUS). The home judoka held down her Russian opponent for 15 seconds with a mune-gatame and the Russian elected to tap out and concede the contest. The second bronze medal was captured by Yeats-Brown as Russia were again denied a -70kg medal. Prokopenko, who was bidding for a first IJF medal, failed with a sode-tsurikomi-goshi and was then thrown for a waza-ari before the former gymnast from Kent pinned down her opponent for 15 seconds.