Golden start of fourth Olympic cycle for Ketleyn Quadros

Brazilian Ketleyn Quadros won her third Grand Prix gold medal at the expense of Ekaterinburg Grand Slam bronze medallist Amy Livesey of Great Britain. Quadros, 29, who won both of her Grand Prix gold medals in 2013, has a wealth of experience at the highest level while world number 14 Livesey, who won bronze on the Grand Prix stage in Budapest last year, has made a confident start to her senior career over the last year.

Quadros, Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, seized the initiative and threw her British opponent with a drop seoi-nage after two minutes for ippon to prolong her international career for Brazil with future call-ups now a certainty.

In the first semi-final Baku Grand Slam silver medallist Andreja Leski (SLO) fell to Quadros and a waza-ari score from a de-ashi-barai as the Brazilian guaranteed her seventh Grand Prix career medal. In the second semi-final Livesey submitted former Junior World Championships bronze medallist Vivian Herrmann (GER) with a koshi-jime strangle having led by a waza-ari from an ouchi-gari.

The first bronze medal was won by Antalya Grand Prix bronze medallist Lubjana Piovesana (GBR) who submitted 23-year-old German judoka Herrmann with a koshi-jime strangle after 42 seconds. Piovesana, 20, showed poise and precision to sink in the strange with razor sharp ne-waza to open the final block.

The second bronze medal was won by Pan American Championships bronze medallist Anriquelis Barrios (IJF) against Leski. Barrios, who was bidding to win her first Grand Prix medal, had the height advantage while Leski was more familiar with the rigours of the IJF World Judo Tour which made for an interesting contest. The 23-year-old Pan American judoka defeated the top seed for improve on her seventh-place from the Almaty Grand Prix last year with bronze from a waza-ari score in the closing seconds.