Clarisse Agbegnenou can only smile after Dusseldorf victory

The weekend in Düsseldorf felt good for the winner U63kg Clarisse Agbegnenou. A bit of a stiff knee, but with the usual smile on her face she enjoyed the Sunday morning in the Mitsubishi Halle. Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Agbegnenou was back on top of an IJF podium for the first time in over a year with a straightforward win over European Games winner Martyna Trajdos. Agbegnenou lead her head-to-head series with Trajdos 6-1 coming into the final and extended her one-sided rule over the German judoka by throwing spectacularly for ippon with an osoto-makikomi after 32 seconds.

Agbegnenou, who has medalled at every IJF event she has entered since 2012, shut out Trajdos – who came up short in her quest to win her home event for the first time – and now has arch—rival Tina Trstenjak (SLO) in her sights.

Agbegnenou said: “I came here with the hope of fighting Tina again but it was not to be today. I know we will meet again soon and I will be ready. I know I can work harder and I need to if I want to win European and world medals again.

 “I was pleased to use a familiar technique to again beat Martyna but if that did not work then I was ready with many more. It is great to win again and be on top of the podium. I am happy and looking forward to more challenges in 2017.”

In the first semi-final Junior world champion Nabekura Nami (JPN) was topped by home opposition as Trajdos won by a waza-ari from a ko-uchi-gari. In the second semi-final Agbegnenou picked up Qingdao Grand Prix silver medallist Lucy Renshall (GBR) with her trademark ura-nage for a waza-ari and the Brit tapped out just as her opponent moved into the osaekomi.

The first bronze medal was won by Rio 2016 Olympic champion and world champion Tina Trstenjak (SLO) as Renshall could not compete having picked up an elbow injury in her semi-final loss at the hands of Agbegnenou. 

The second bronze medal was won by Nabekura who beat teammate and former Tokyo Grand Slam winner Tsugane Megumi (JPN) after two minutes of golden score. Tsugane, 21, who last won an IJF medal in 2014 when she captured bronze at the Qingdao Grand Prix in 2014, finished the four minutes with a shido against her name but a contest cannot be decided on shidos in regulation time. After a couple more minutes and a continued lack of attacking intent from both judoka the referee issued a shido for passivity to both judoka which made the younger judoka Nabekura the winner.