Mongolian lightweight final decided by Ganbaatar

After the early elimination in Antalya of the number one seed and number four in the world, Catarina Costa (POR), who took a beautiful gold medal at home in Portugal in January, the draw opened up for an outsider, Ganbaatar Narantsetseg (MGL), who ruined the hopes of Merve Azak (TUR) in the quarter-finals, to face in the semi-finals Milica Nikolic (SRB), fifth in Paris in February.

In the second part of the draw, the second Mongolian athlete Baasankhuu Bavuudorj continued her fine season, after she was twice propelled onto the podium in 2022 already, 2nd in Paris and 3rd in Tel Aviv. In the semi-final she met Mélanie Legoux-Clément, winner over Mary Dee Vargas Ley (CHI) in the quarter-finals, after a tight match.

Bavuudorj gave no chance to the French judoka to enter the final, scoring waza-ari twice with ura-nage, both beautiful and massive. Thus the final was 100% Mongolian!

The first half of the match was a shido battle, two for Bavuudorj, one for Ganbaatar, both athletes staying perfectly in control, giving nothing away. With thirty seconds left, Ganbaatar was penalised a second time too. No more mistakes were allowed but Bavuudorj made one again and received the third penalty synonymous with disqualification. Nevertheless, Mongolia totally dominated the category today in Antalya.

In the first bronze medal contest in Antalya, Mireia Lapuerta Comas (ESP) was opposed by Mélanie Legoux Clément (FRA). Half way through, the French judoka was under pressure with two shido to her name. Mireia Lapuerta Comas took her chance and produced a massive effort after Legoux Clément released the pressure and lost her balance, to score with a ura-nage for ippon, winning her first medal in a grand slam.

For the first time ever, Chile had a female athlete present in a medal contest at a World Judo Tour event and that was Mary Dee Vargas Ley (CHI). She had a solid win in the repechage match against Ersin (TUR), to go on and face Milica Nikolic (SRB) for that medal. The first sequence on the floor should have been a clear warning for Vargas Ley, to be careful in ne-waza, because Milica Nikolic is especially strong there, but during the second sequence, the Serbian competitor was on top to pin her opponent for ippon. Bronze goes to Nikolic, but pride can definitely go to Vargas Ley, who performed beautifully today.