Daria Pogorzelec opens the flower of success in Tashkent

The final of the women’s under 78kg category saw the winner of Tallinn this year, Polish Daria Pogorzelec against Ivana Maranic of Croatia who finished third in Samsun in March. After a long period with no score and only penalties given to Maranic, Pogorzelec finally immobilized her opponent for ippon. The Ploish turns out to be a great talent who showcased herself at the Olympic Games 2012 but now develops further.

The first bronze medal fight saw the top seeded athlete of the competition and Astana’s silver medallist, Luise Malzahn (GER) facing Laia Talarn (ESP), who had finished first at the Pan-American open in Santiago last July. Halfway through the contest, Malzahn seemed to be more active and more dangerous for her opponent but was still not capable of scoring. Nevertheless, as Talarn was twice penalized, the German took the lead. In an o-soto-o-soto attempt from both sides, Malzahn was finally able to score a yuko that she kept until the end winning a well deserved bronze medal.

The second bronze medal fight was between two medallists of last week’s Grand Prix in Astana, the Gold medallist Natalie Powell (GBR), and bronze medallist, Assunta Galeone (ITA). A little more than two minutes were necessary to Powell to secure the bronze medal. After having scored a first yuko, she immobilized Galeone for ippon.