Italy’s lightweight diamond Assunta Scutto

On Friday was the first day of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2021 and there are still two full ones left before the curtain closes. While the Olympic qualification is on the horizon, as from May 2022 all points will count for the Paris 2024 Games, we can already feel that the preparation is in full swing.

Number one seed in the category, Shirine Boukli (FRA) is positioned as a serious contender in the years to come for one or more major titles. 4th in the world rankings after a roller coaster season that brought her immense joys as well as major disappointments, she arrived in Abu Dhabi determined to do better than her third place in Paris in October. Mission accomplished! The French judoka scaled the draw sheet to the final, to stand in front of a young rising star. It was indeed Assunta Scutto (ITA), the recent junior world champion in Olbia, also last month, who was opposed to Boukli.

The first very strong attack came from Scutto with an o-uchi-gari that unbalanced Boukli but for no score. A first warning for the French athlete who was the more experienced competitor of the final despite being only 22 years of age. When your opponent is only 19, this happens. In little more than two minutes, already four shido were given, two to Boukli and two to Scutto. On the gong Scutto was very close to scoring but Boukli escaped. Unfortunately that was a sign, because a few seconds into golden score, the Italian youngster executed a perfect change in direction to score a waza-ari with a clever o-uchi-gari to win her first gold medal at that level.

Assunta Scutto said, “My will to win helps me to be strong and win these big events. Gold at the JuniorWorld Championships and here is a good ending to the year. Now I have to rest and prepare for the Italian National Championships.”

For the first bronze medal, we saw Catarina Costa (POR), who so far obtained only fifth places in 2021 (Masters, Tel Aviv, Tbilisi, Tokyo 2020 and Paris) face the Russian, Sabina Giliakova. When the match began it was really hard to say who would win as it was a tough and really close match. Under the pressure of her opponent, Costa did not seem to be able to put Giliakova in danger but the latter was not able to throw either. Thus it was time for golden score, with a shido to each name. After two minutes of golden score, Costa put a little more effort in and was close to scoring but it was Giliakova who was penalised instead, for grabbing the leg of her opponent. Just before three minutes of extra time, Costa finally scored a waza-ari with an opportunist sumi-gaeshi. The Portuguese champion let her joy explode with this well deserved medal, the first one of this season for her.

For a second bronze medal we found the second French judoka in the category, Mélanie Clément Legoux, to whom Boukli had been preferred for the Olympic Games, against the other Russian Irina Dolgova. Clément Legoux, already a silver medallist at the Paris Grand Slam, came to Abu Dhabi to perfect her preparation in full view of the 2022 season. Very fit a few weeks ago, she nevertheless recognised that her Parisian medal had arrived a little too early to really get an idea of her true state of form. For the second time in a row, the athletes had to go through golden score to determine the winner as neither of them was able to open the scorecard during normal time. With a shido awarded to each competitor for avoiding gripping, Clément Legoux was under pressure as she already had received a shido at the beginning of the match. One more and she would be out. After 6:20, there were two shido a piece, as Dolgova was warned a second time. Eventually, after 9 minutes and 17 seconds of extra time, the third shido was given to Dolgova, to offer the medal to Clément Legoux. Altogether the match was the equivalent of more than three regular bouts.