Audrey Tcheumeo wins Grand Prix in Jeju

World silver medallist and Olympic bronze medallist Audrey Tcheumeo (FRA) chalked up a richly-deserved victory in Jeju as she claimed gold by defeating Abu Dhabi Grand Slam winner Luise Malzahn (GER). World number four Malzahn twice with the latter indiscretion coming for stepping out of the area which Tcheumeo was also called up on. Neither judoka could register a score as two of the leading judoka in the category contested a competitive contest.

In the first semi-final Tcheumeo defeated Olympic champion Kayla Harrison (USA) to secure a place in the final. In their five previous meetings, Harrison had won two, with their last meeting coming at the 2011 World Championships when the Frenchwoman won a semi-final on her way to gold. Tcheumeo and Harrison traded shido penalties before Tcheumeo seized the initiative with a yuko and held on to take a narrow win.   

In the second semi-final Malzahn bested African Championships silver medallist Sarah Mazou(GAB). The German wasted little time in guaranteeing herself a medal as she scored a yuko immediately before putting the Gabon judoka away with an osoto-makikomi for ippon.

The first bronze medal was won by 2013 Jeju Grand Prix bronze medallist CHOI Mi-Young (KOR) as the impressive MAZOUZ was unable to win her country’s first medal on the IJF World Judo Tour. The host nation added one more medal to their haul as CHOI submitted her opponent with a koshi-jime. The second bronze medal contest was won by HARRISON who outperformed former Moscow Grand Slam bronze medallist Vera MOSKALYUK (RUS). HARRISON initiated a ouchi-gari attack which set her opponent off balance and the American followed through with upper body control to drive the Russian over for a waza-ari.