Svitlana Yaromka puts Ukraine on the judo map in Baku

Tbilisi Grand Prix silver medallist Svitlana IAROMKA (UKR) showed Tallinn European Open bronze medallist her ne-waza prowess as she subdued Santa PAKENYTE (LTU) after some good movement which had conviction and yielded her country’s first and last medal of the Baku Grand Slam. Both judoka were penalised after 25 seconds and after exchanging further penalties for passivity, IAROMKA sensed an opening on the ground and held her taller Lithuanian rival with a kesa-gatame for another hard-fought result.

In the first semi-final PAKENYTE held off Pan American Championships runner-up Rochele NUNES (BRA) in a contest which was only settled on shido penalties. One shido against Brazil’s number two heavyweight NUNES was the difference as PAKENYTE guaranteed a place on the medal podium. In the second semi-final IAROMKA humbled Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist Ksenia CHIBISOVA (RUS). The Ukrainian fighter showed more industry and was a worthy winner as she went through to the final by ippon to leave no doubt in her mind that she could claim gold.

The first bronze medal was won by Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist and top seed Jasmin KUELBS (GER) who returned to winning ways by defeating CHIBISOVA by a waza-ari after four minutes. The second bronze medal was clinched by Zagreb Grand Prix winner Belkis Zehra KAYA (TUR) who scored two waza-ari and recognised the respectful ovation from the judo-loving crowd by making a heart sign with her hands. KAYA made sure of victory with just 23 seconds left as she turned to osaekomi-waza for the second and match-winning waza-ari.