Korea keeps bringing U60kg talent: Lee Ha-Rim takes gold

In the U60kg category weight class at the Grand Prix of Portugal, Balabay Aghayev seems like a relative newcomer at first glance, but judo specialists already know that the young Azeri is not just anyone, since last October, during the fiftieth anniversary of the Paris Grand Slam, he not only reached the final but he won in the French capital. It was therefore not surprising to find him again in the final of a World Judo Tour event where he was up against the silver medallist of the 2015 Junior World Championships, the Korean Ha-Rim Lee.

After Kim Won Jin who won 8 world tour events, and previously Jin-Min Jang and In Hyuk Choi now Lee Ha-Rim takes gold for Korea.

Very stable on his feet, maybe a little too confident though, Aghayev was thrown a first time with a massive morote-seoi-nage of the purest style, for waza-ari. Despite Aghayev's protest, the technique was perfectly executed, without any stop, for a valid mark. A little while later, Lee reproduced the same effort for the same result and a crystal clear victory.

Earlier in the competition, the number one seed, Spaniard Francisco Garrigos, was eliminated by the Japanese delegate Taiki Nakamura, before losing in the repechage against the Mongolian Tsogt-Ochir Byambajav. It was certainly not the result Garrigos expected but the season has just begun. The most important thing for the moment is to take stock of the work that still needs to be done to regain an optimal level.

With the exception of Balabay Aghayev in the final, another European competitor still had a chance of winning a medal as Angelo Pantano (ITA) faced Tsogt-Ochir Byambajav for the bronze medal. Unfortunately for the transalpine athlete, the waza-ari scored was not enough when compared with Tsogt-Ochir's two waza-ari scores.

Sumiyabazar Enkhtaivan (MGL) who finished at the foot of the podium in Paris in October, faced Nakamura for a bronze medal. The latter had eliminated Garrigos but did not manage to reach the final. The Mongolian again finished fifth as he was pinned down by Nakamura for ippon, to win a first grand prix medal for the Japanese.