Aimi Nouchi wins second Grand Prix title

Japanese Nouchi Aimi defeated European Games winner Martyna Trajdos (GER) in Budapest to win her third IJF event of the season and her second Grand Prix title. Hohhot Grand Prix winner Nouchi won the first Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifier, the Hohhot Grand Prix in May in addition to the Ekaterinburg Grand Slam.

Trajdos had won their previous meeting back in 2015 at the Tokyo Grand Slam but failed to repeat that result today as world number 13 Nouchi threw with uchi-mata for a waza-ari score which settled the destination of the gold and silver medals after four minutes.

In the first semi-final Nouchi bested Düsseldorf Grand Slam winner Andreja Leski (SLO) by a waza-ari score in golden score after a four-minute stalemate. In the second semi-final world bronze medallist Agata Ozdoba-Blach (POL) lost out to Trajdos after the Polish judoka received her third and final penalty.

The first bronze medal contest was won by Ozdoba-Blach who threw The Hague Grand Prix bronze medallist Sanne Vermeer (NED) with an uchi-mata for a waza-ari score. Ozdoba-Blach now heads into the World Championships in September with high hopes of matching her medal-winning performance from 2017.                                                     

The second bronze medal was won by Leski who countered an osoto-gari attack from The Hague Grand Prix bronze medallist Stefanie Tremblay (CAN) to seal a place on the podium by ippon. Leski has the Olympic champion, Tina Trstenjak, for company in Slovenia at U63kg but keeps winning medals and is starting to make a name for herself on the international stage.