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Funa Tonaki completes Grand Slam treble

Funa Tonaki completes Grand Slam treble

22 Feb 2019 19:05
Mark Pickering - IJF
Klaus Müller / Watch: https://km-pics.de/

Tonaki Funa of Japan defeated former Paris Grand Slam silver medallist Kang Yujeong (KOR) by ippon in the U48kg final to keep her Tokyo 2020 ambitions alive. World number three and Former world champion Tonaki clinched her third Grand Slam title at the expense of the world number 15 who was dispatched with a sumi-gaeshi for ippon.

The Japanese has a prolific medal record on the IJF World Judo Tour but has an 0-3 record against Daria Bilodid (UKR), the current and youngest world judo champion of all time, while her colleague Kondo Ami (JPN) is yet to tangle with the Ukrainian wonderkid.

In the first semi-final Tonaki held down Tel Aviv Grand Prix bronze medallist Nathalia Brigida (BRA) for ippon while in the second semi-final Kang saw off Junior World Championships bronze medallist Laura Martinez Abelenda (ESP) by a waza-ari score.

The first bronze medal contest was won by Cancun Grand Prix silver medallist Catarina Costa (POR) who took Martinez Abelenda down with a delightful piece of opportunistic ashi-waza for ippon.

The second bronze medal was won by Brigida who submitted Ekaterinburg Grand Slam bronze medallist Katharina Menz (GER) with a juji-gatame for ippon after three and a half minutes of golden score.