Germany’s Ballhaus wins after watching twin sister take silver

Seija Ballhaus of Germany won a second medal on day two for Germany and the Ballhaus family as she was able to go one better than her twin sister by besting Cadet European Team Championships bronze medallist Faiza Mokdar (FRA) in the U52kg final.

While U48kg silver medallist Mascha Ballhaus wiped away the tears, as she waited for her medal ceremony, Seija surged past her French foe in just 45 seconds. The German fighter tapped out Mokdar on the ground with a koshi-jime strangle to secure the most prestigious title of her rising career. Seija was also Cadet European Championships bronze medallist this year.

In the first semi-final contest 15-year-old Cadet European Championships winner Ozbas Szofi (HUN) was beaten by Mokdar in golden score. The Hungarian EYOF bronze medallist was penalised for passivity and it was her third shido which resulted in disqualification and progression for her French opponent. In the second semi-final 16-year-old Cadet Asian Championships bronze medallist Nilufar Ermaganbetova (UZB) was defeated by Ballhaus when the Uzbek picked up her third shido for passivity.

The first bronze medal was claimed by Kobayashi Mina (JPN) in golden score with a medal-winning waza-ari score after 11 seconds of additional time.    

The second bronze medal contest was won by Ozbas who returned to winning ways by holding down Mun Song Hui (PRK) in a kesa-gatame for 20 seconds as Hungary featured heavily on day two.