Kayra Sayit gives the home crowd the gold in Antalya

The third and final day of the Antalya Grand Prix ended in a firework display for the host country, as Turkey added two more medals to its collection, including one in gold with the title of Kayra Sayit.

Turkish crowd was definitely waiting for the last final of the women’s category, as they knew that they had their best change of medal with the female’s heavyweight. Kayra Sayit (TUR), who started her judo career in France, has been competing for Turkey for several years, collecting five medals on the world circuit (1 grand slam, 4 grand prix). Altogether, she spent no more than 2 minutes and 41 seconds on the tatami during the preliminary rounds as she defeated by ippon Ivana Maranic (CRO) and Battulga Munkhtuya (MGL). In the final she faced Larisa Ceric (BIH), a bronze medallist at the 2016 World Masters in Guadalajara.

As the public had been chanting since the athletes entered the arena, after one minute and a half, SAYIT scored a first waza-ari with a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi and then controlled the end of the final despite the fact that she received penalities. But at the end the public could explode with joy as Tukey won its first gold medal of the tournament.

The first bronze medal contest opposed another Turkish athlete, Kubra Kara (TUR) and Santa Pakenyte (LTU). Kubra Kara received a first shido for false attack in the first minute but then scored a waza-ari with a counter attack that totally surprised Pakenyte. With one minute left on the clock, the atmosphere in the arena started to warm up a bit, announcing what it would look like in the final. Much smaller than her opponent but fantastically supported by her public, Kara could keep her calm and tactically keep her advantage to win a fourth beautiful medal for the host country.

The second bronze medal contest saw the third local competitor, Sebile Akbulut (TUR) facing Battulga Munkhtuya (MGL). With a superb action-reaction, concluded with a ko-uchi-gari, Battulga scored a first waza-ari. Despite all the support she got from the public Akbulut could not score and the Mongol won the bronze medal.