Urantsetseg Munkhbat takes judo gold for Mongolia U48kg

At the Grand Slam of Tashkent, number one seed in the lightest category of the competition, Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL), had a clear advantage over most of her opponents today. It must be said that the Mongolian is a reference on the world circuit. Holder of three world medals (gold, silver and bronze), as well as three medals at the Masters, including one title, plus 34 medals from Grand Slam and Grand Prix tournaments, her rank of favourite is not out of the blue.

Unsurprisingly, Munkhbat entered the final after having once again demonstrated all her technique and power in the standing to ground transitions.

In the final Munkhbat found Tsunoda Natsumi (JPN) who, although she was not seeded (48th in the world), had good chances to perform, in a category which remained very open in the second half of the draw. It seemed obvious that the Japanese judoka did not want to follow her opponent on the floor, but the real danger came from the standing position. With superb use of the action reaction principle, Munkhbat rolled Tsunoda on her back for a perfect ippon.

While we indicated to you during the preview of the competition, that it would be necessary to follow the match between the two Serbs, Milica Nikolic and Andrea Stojadinov, this one turned to the advantage of the latter, during the quarter-finals. However, after the semi-finals and Stojadinov's loss against Munkhbat Urantsetseg, the two athletes qualified for the bronze medal matches.

Nikolic was pitted against the Spanish fighter Laura Martinez Abelenda, while Stojadinov faced the Italian Francesca Giorda. Both Serbian athletes won and so the decision concerning the Olympic Games is not yet finalised.