Hikaru Kodama defeats Beatriz Souza for Japan’s seventh gold medal

Japanese heavyweight Hikaru Kodama ousted Cancun Grand Prix bronze medallist Beatriz Souza (BRA) to win her first Junior World Championships title in the Bahamas. Kodama, who took silver a year ago, took the contest to Souza, who is ranked number 10 in senior heavyweight category and is a contender for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Kodama threw with a uchi-mata for a waza-ari score and then pinned her Brazilian rival for 10 seconds to win gold. 

In the first semi-final 2017 Junior Asian Championships gold medallist Kamila Berlikash (KAZ) was beaten by Souza with a thunderous o-soto-gari which earned ippon with a minute left on the clock. In the second semi-final Junior European Championships winner Szigetvari Mercedesz (HUN) was thrown with an uchi-mata for ippon by Kodama.

The first bronze medal was claimed by one-time Junior European Cup winner Laura Fuseau (FRA) who edged past Szigetvari by a waza-ari score from a uchi-mata.                              

The second bronze medal was won by Junior European Championships silver medallist Renee Lucht (GER) after Berlikash was penalised for the third time in golden score. The Kazakh had her German rival trapped in a kesa-gatame but the latter managed to wriggle out to remain in the contest. Lucht won Germany’s first medal in the Bahamas by marginally outworking her opponent who was reprimanded with a shido for a false attack.