Tonaki and Bilodid on course for world title U48kg

No major surprises so far in the preliminaries for the women’s division U48kg at the World Championships in Japan. The favourites progressed to the quarter finals and a final between Funa Tonaki and defending World Champion Daria Bilodid is still possible. For that final Bilodid will first have to defeat 2013 World Champion Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia.

The tiny and experienced fighter is the opponent for the Ukraine sensation Bilodid who defeated Laura Martinez Abelanda in the quarter final. Munkhbat bested Galbadrakh, a former Mongolian who fights for Kazakhstan. Laura Martinez Abelanda overcame Russian ace Irina Dolgova who still can’t  perform at World Championships in line with her reputation and talent. Laura Martinez is the ony Spaniard of the two in the final block as Julia Figueroa lost to Distria Krasqniqi, which is no surprise. The Kosovo girl headed for a confrontation with Olympic champion Paula Pareto, a tough match that ended in the golden score. Krasniqi who fought U52kg for quite some years stepped back successfully U48 and is taller than Pareto and gave her a lot of pressure with two penalties. After more than six minutes she scored with koshi guruma, enough for the semi-final.

In Pool A Funa Tonaki dealt with the pressure and had no troubles keeping Sabina Giliazova and Eva Csernoviczky off her back and defeated French woman Melanie Clement in the quarter. Clement though was strong and is still in the tournament. She defeated outsider Milica Nikolic of Serbia.

In the semi final Bilodid and Munkhbat never met before, it will be a clash between two powers with totally different styles and height as Bilodid is about 20 cm taller. The second semi will be Tonaki vs Distria Krasniqi which is a repetition of the Budapest Grand Prix final in June, there Tonaki won the gold. The favourites are still in place with Tonaki and Bilodid as favourites for gold. If so, you got to know that Bilodid defeated Tonaki three times in 2018 and the Japanese fighters still can't get a hold on the Ukraine ace.

Check here the final block stats