Dutch ace Sanne Vermeer victorious after 2017 silver

Dutch judoka Sanne Vermeer won the Junior World Championships with a comprehensive victory over Danish Laerke Olsen in the U63kg final. Vermeer had a razor sharp focus all day long and immediately breached the scoreboard with a waza-ari from a ko-soto-gari.

The Dutch starlet won the final moments later with a deep seoi-nage as the former Cadet World Championships winner made sure that her country’s first medal in the Bahamas was gold. The Hague Grand Prix bronze medallist is the ninth Dutch World Junior Champion.

In the first semi-final Junior Pan American Championships gold medallist Celinda Corozo (ECU) was penalised for a third time in golden score against Minsk European Open silver medallist Olsen and was disqualified with the score tied at a waza-ari apiece. In the second semi-final Vermeer submitted Cadet World Championships silver medallist Natalia Kropska (POL) to guarantee at least a silver medal for the Dutch delegation on day three.

The first bronze medal was won by St. Petersburg Junior European Cup bronze medallist Ura Asumi (JPN) who defeated Kropska. Japan started the final block with bronze after Ura scored a waza-ari from a harai-goshi after 90 seconds and held on without being threatened. Kropska, who was on the mat for 27 minutes in a legendary golden score semi-final contest at the Cadet Worlds last year, can be content with a respectable fifth-place having moved up an age group and a weight category this year.

The second bronze medal was claimed by Junior European Championships bronze medallist Anja Obradovic (SRB) who conquered number one seed Corozo in a thriller. Corozo missed with an uchi-mata and ended up on her back for a waza-ari score for Obradovic. The Ecuador judoka restored parity with a waza-ari from a ura-nage but was caught in the closing seconds by the Serbian athlete who doubled her country’s medal tally in the Bahamas.