Reka Pupp belongs to the big girls now after another gold

The final in Antalya for women U52kg seemed to open its arms to the French athlete Astride Gneto, seeded number one in the tournament and second in the world in the category but after a never-ending golden score in the semi-final against the Hungarian Reka Pupp, it was finally the latter who strode through those open doors to the final.

For the gold medal, facing Pupp was the 2015 cadet world champion, Diyora Keldiyorova, who continues to prove the rise of the Uzbek women's team that we have been announcing for several years. This bodes well for the world championships that are to be held in Tashkent in October.

Diyora Keldiyorova took the lead quickly with a first waza-ari but as the final unrolled, Pupp scored as well to come back to evens. Into the last minute, the Hungarian athlete produced one of the most spectacular throws of the tournament so far. Keldiyorova was propelled into the air before landing flat on her back, at the hands of a devastating o-soto-gari. This is the judo we all like. Congratulations to Reka Pupp.

The Mongolian team is definitely in good shape, as Khorloodoi Bishrelt (MGL) qualified for the bronze medal match against double Olympic medallist Odette Giuffrida (ITA). But Giuffrida is an experienced competitor who can wait for the right moment to attack or who can play tactically. This is what she did this time to win a new medal at the International level.

We can't say that Larissa Pimenta (BRA) failed during the preliminary stages, but she had to bow to Giuffrida in the quarter-finals, to finally find Astride Gneto (FRA) on her way to a possible place on the podium. It took 4 minutes and 48 secondes for Gneto to win after Pimenta was penalised for a third time, for stepping out of the competition area. This is medal number seven for Astride Gneto at this level.