Croatia’s Ivana Sutalo pitches a perfect record in Cancun

Croatia’s Ivana Sutalo topped an IJF medal podium for the first time with a win over Pan American Championships silver medallist Melanie Bolanos of Mexico. Sutalo, Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist, produced three ippons in as many contests to take the +78kg title as Bolanos had to settle for silver after being thrown for a waza-ari and held down for 20 seconds.

In the first semi-final Pan American Championships bronze medallist Nina Cutro-Kelly (USA) fell to Sutalo via a tate-shiho-gatame as the American had no answer to the power of her European opponent. In the second semi-final Bolanos held down Lima Pan American Open winner Rochele Nunes (BRA) and the latter tapped out to the satisfaction of the home crowd.

The first bronze medal was won by former Moscow Grand Slam bronze medallist Sarah Adlington (GBR) as Nunes could not compete due to an injury. It was not the fashion Adlington desired but the result is a great lift for the Scottish judoka who has resurfaced after a year away from the IJF circuit. Nunes pulled out having broken a bone in her hand.

The second bronze medal was won by Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Anamari Velensek (SLO) who bounced back from her semi-final slip to tap out Cutro-Kelly. Velensek’s heavyweight debut yielded a IJF medal podium at the first time of asking having started over with no World Ranking List points and will be a dangerous judoka in Hungary from an unseeded position.