Sarah Asahina recovers from Olympic disappointment

Double world champion Asahina Sarah of Japan earned her sixth Grand Slam title with a professional display against world number four Iryna Kindzerska (AZE) in the women’s heavyweight final. After missing out on selection for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which went in favour of teenager Sone Akira, Asahina returned to the competition circuit for the first time and with a wait of pressure lifted off her shoulders.

While her ever-present father Asahina Terry screamed words of encouragement from the stands, the Kodokan Judo Institute product outworked Kindzerska who received three penalties and was disqualified. 

In the first semi-final Asahina defeated world number one Idalys Ortiz (CUB) after pinning down her rival following a sasae-tsurikomi-ashi which opened the scoring as the Japanese signalled her return to form.

In the second semi-final Kindzerska defeated world number 25 Hortence Vanessa Mballa Atangana (CMR) in 85 seconds as Azerbaijan were omnipresent on day three.

The first bronze medal was won by Mballa Atangana who made history for Cameroon as her country’s first Grand Slam medallist. Mballa Atangana matched world number 12 Anne Fatoumata M Bairo (FRA) for the majority of the contest as they were tied at a waza-ari apiece before the African judoka registered a second score to lock down a place in the record books.

The second bronze medal was won by Ortiz who edged out Paris Grand Slam bronze medallist Beatriz Souza (BRA) in a case of the champion having an edge over the contender. Ortiz, the standard bearer for women’s heavyweight judo over the last decade, showed her class to see off one more new challenger in the form of the rising young Brazilian by a waza-ari score.