Natsumi Tsunoda wins gold for Japan U48kg

Natsumi Tsunoda is the new World Champion U48kg. The number 41 of the World Rankinglist defeated youngster Wakana Koga by ippon in the final. At the opening day of the World Championships in Budapest an all Japan final was held. The last time was ten years ago in 2011 in Paris when Asami and Fukumi fought for the world title. Since 2007 there was always a Japanese in the final U48kg.

Tsunoda was putting a lot of pressure on her opponent, but it was Tsunoda who scored first with a brilliant sutemi-waza for waza-ari, before both were penalised for refusing to grip the judogi. Tsunoda received a second penalty quickly, putting her in a difficult situation, even though she was leading. No more mistakes allowed!And she made no more mistakes, chaining tachi-waza and ne-waza sequences. It was after a long moment on the floor that the referee said ‘mate’ and called for the video refereeing to judge a previous action that clearly offered a second waaza-ari to Tsunoda for a deserved victory.

Tsunoda Natsumi: "Krasniqi was the favourite because she has defeated me twice in the past. So, I was a bit anxious before the contest. As for the final with Koga, we know each other very well, so the key was to show what I am good at and to block what she is good at. I always wanted to be a judo girl and now I am world champion and very proud of my red back number."

The first bronze medal match pitted Keisy Perafan (ARG), ranked 49th place in the world, against Julia Figueroa (ESP), sixth place in the ranking. Figueroa was the first to action with a circling uchi-mata for no score, but already giving the impression that she was stronger than her opponent. During the following action, Figueroa pushed Perafan in a clever counterattack for waza-ari and concluded rapidly in the floor, with an immobilisation for ippon. She was definitely in good form today and this first medal in a World Championships offers her a ticket to go to the Olympic Games this summer. It was the second time ever that Spain captured two medals in one day. In 2009 Oiana Blanco (U48kg) and Sugoi Uriarte (U66kg) took the medals.

In the second bronze medal contest, we found two athletes who probably had other goals for today: Munkhbat Urantsetseg (MGL) and Distria Krasniqi (KOS). A bronze medal at the World Championships remains an important achievement, though and Krasniqi went on the offensive immediately, to show that she is more powerful than Munkhbat, imposing her high, strong kumi-kata, but the first real, strong attack came from the Mongolian, with a sutemi-waza attempt that brought no score. Very opportunist, Munkhbat was again close to scoring with a clever counterattack from Krasniqi’s instigation, that was undoubtedly not prepared enough. Then Munkhbat was penalised with a first shido. It was time for golden score. Neither of the two athletes seemed to be able to break the distance between them, which would have opened the possibilities.

Krasniqi took her first shido for stepping out of the tatami. At 2:40 into golden score, the Kosovan had a real first opportunity to win, when she pinned Munkhbat, which is already a performance, knowing the skills of the Mongolian on the floor, but the latter was able to escape. She still received a second shido for passivity, but another shido was awarded to Krasniqi for keeping the grip on the same side of the judogi too long. Time was flying. At 5:30 of extra time it was Krasniqi's o-soto-gari that came really close to scoring. Exactly 6 minutes after the start of the golden score period, a third shido was sent to Krasniqi and Munkhbat Urantsetseg won her fourth medal at a world championships.