Slovenian Tina Trstenjak rules at Grand Prix Tbilisi

Tokyo Grand Slam winner Tina Trstenjak (SLO) ruled the -63kg category on day two as she defeated Dusseldorf Grand Prix silver medallist TSEDEVSUREN Munkhzaya (MGL) in the final. TSEDEVSUREN, who stunned world silver medallist and top seed Yarden GERBI (ISR) in the second round, lost out in her second consecutive IJF Grand Prix final, as the glory went to world number three TRSTENJAK, who was the number two seed here in Georgia.

The Slovenian went ahead with a yuko from an osoto-otoshi before overpowering her rival on the ground to hold her down with yoko-shiho-gatame for 20 seconds and ippon. 

 In the first semi-final TSEDEVSUREN defeated world number six Edwige GWEND (ITA) by the slender margin of a yuko which was the only score in a tightly-contested contest. TSEDEVSUREN was composed before and after scoring as GWEND could find no way past the Mongolian’s robust defensive work. In the second semi-final TRSTENJAK bested Prague European Open winner Marta LABAZINA (RUS) on shido penalties in a contest which required the Slovenian to grit her teeth and show her character. The vastly-underrated TRSTENJAK prevailed as her record was unblemished while her Russian rival was penalised twice.

The first bronze medal was won by world number nine Martyna TRAJDOS (GER) who beat losing semi-finalist LABAZINA by the smallest of margins. LABAZINA lost out after being penalised with a single shido while her German opponent did not infringe at any point during the four minute contest. The second bronze medal was claimed by beaten semi-finalist GWEND as she came back to form against Abu Dhabi Grand Slam bronze medallist Agata OZDOBA (POL). Fourth seed GWEND would have expected to be on the podium and did just that as a result of OZDOBA receiving two penalties for passivity while the Italian was only penalised once.