Audrey Tcheumeo stays unbeaten in 2018 with Tbilisi triumph

Audrey Tcheumeo of France won her second IJF World Judo Tour event in a row at the Grand Prix in Tbilisi, with victory over Agadir Grand Prix silver medallist Anastasiya Turchyn (UKR) in the U78kg final.

Paris Grand Slam winner  and world number four Tcheumeo won her seventh Grand Prix title by holding down the Ukrainian for ippon to extended her winning-streak to eight contests in 2018.

In the first semi-final Tcheumeo bested Tashkent Grand Prix silver medallist Beata Pacut (POL) by two waza-ari scores with the first going unanswered and the second putting the Frenchwoman in the final. The pick of the scores was an ouchi-gari for the second waza-ari from Tcheumeo. In the second semi-final Paris Grand Slam bronze medallist Madeleine Malonga (FRA) lost out to Turchyn by a waza-ari score as the Ukrainian denied an all-French U78kg final.

The first bronze medal contest was won by Malonga who countered an osoto-gari from Agadir Grand Prix bronze medallist Yarden Mayersohn (ISR) for ippon after 90 seconds to win her sixth Grand Prix medal.                                                        

The second bronze medal was won by Pacut who proved too strong for former Junior World Championships bronze medallist Lisa Dollinger (GER) as the former prevailed by a narrow margin of a waza-ari score which was the only score in the four minute bout.