World champion Yu Song shows her superiority over compatriot Ma

World champion Yu Song of China won the domestic bragging rights as she defeated World Judo Masters silver medallist Ma Sisi in the last women’s contest in Qingdao. Yu extended her head-to-head record to 4-2 as she made a winning return to action in her first competition since winning bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Yu, who could still be identified from her red backpatch which is reserved for reigning world champions, countered an osoto-gari effort from Ma with one of her own for ippon with 90 seconds left on the clock.

In the first semi-final YU defeated former Jeju Grand Prix silver medallist Lee Eun-Ju (KOR) in a flat contest which saw the world champion move into the final on shidos 1:2. In the second semi-final Ma bested Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist Sandra Jablonskyte (LTU) in osaekomi with a mune-gatame hold for 20 seconds having led by a yuko score.

The first bronze medal was won by 2011 Qingdao Grand Prix bronze medallist Kang Jie (CHN) who threw Jablonskyte for a waza-ari before she trapped the Lithuanian on the ground for 15 seconds. The second bronze medal was won by Lee who saw off ko-soto-gari specialist Xu Xin (CHN) on shido penalties. Xu, who had never medalled at this level, showed a lack of desire as she allowed Kim to take the medal from Qingdao on shidos 2:0.