Urantsetseg Munkhbat collects judo kudos in Abu Dhabi

The first final of the day opposed world number one and 2013 world champion, Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL) and world number eight and double European champion, Csernoviczki Eva (HUN). A first shido was given to Csernoviczki for not respecting the limit of the fighting area and a few seconds later the Hungarian was sent to the tatami with a precise ko-uchi-gari from Munkhbat for waza-ari.

Despite a second and a third shido given to the Mongolian, she could keep her advantage to win another major title and gain more points to remain on the top of the World Ranking List.

The first bronze medal fight opposed, Dilara LOKMANHEKIM (TUR) and Taciana LIMA (GBS). After a minute, Lima was penalized with a first shido for passivity, as she looked dominated by LOKMANHEKIM. But half way to the end, Lima scored with a first uchimata for yuko, followed immediately by a second yuko. The two athletes entered the last minute with a small but still strong lead by LIMA who started to defend. As a consequence she was penalized a second time. 12 second before the end, LOKMANHEKIM also scored a yuko, giving her a little hope but Lima again scored with an opportunist uki-goshi and immobilized her opponent for ippon.

In the second bronze medal fight, Violeta DUMITRU (ROU), for the first time at that level of competition met the bronze medallist of the last Asian Games, Mi KIM Sol (PRK). The first penalty was given to the Romanian after 2 minutes and 30 seconds for a wrong cross-grip position. Keeping the smallest advantage (1 penalty) until the end, KIM won the first medal of here delegation, confirming what Mr. BARTA declared earlier during the day: “North Korea is back. They are here in Abu Dhabi with a strong team.”