Unique performance for Croatian double team Matic and Cvjetko

World Champion Barbara Matic defended her title of last year with success. It was an amazing success for the Croatian team as the final was between Matic and her teammate Lara Cvjetko. Matic was World ranked number one and obviously among the favourites, but Cvjetko as opponent was just a dream scenario for Croatia as a sports country. So far only Japan, China, Kazakhstan and the Soviet Union have had a double World Championships final between two compatriots.

Matic is not the tree that hides the forest, but the first line of combat and the second is already operational and is called Lara Cvjetko at this fifth day of the World Championships in Croatia. It became a historic day for Croatia.

Matic started well in her final, better than Cvjetko, pressing hard, smothering her with a lot of movement. Cvjetko had not digested being in the final and Matic imparted a lesson in efficiency and cold blood that ended with an arm being immobilised and Cvjetko surrendering her weapons. Matic renewed her world title, so she will continue to write her name in red ink, just the way she likes it. As for Cvjetko, she already knows what she has to do to reach a final and now she also knows what not to do to win it.

Matic already knows what it means to be the favourite, the pressure that comes with a gold medal of this caliber. The Croatian lives well with her status as the rival to beat, more motivated than ever and her qualification for the final shows that her preparation, with a third place in Budapest and victory in Zagreb, was on the right track. In Tashkent, she didn't have to use all her talents until the quarter-finals, where she defeated the Uzbek Matniyazova. That match was even more closely contested than the semi-final against Japan's Tanaka. We have witnessed many surprises since the beginning of the tournament, a lot of suffering on the part of the favourites, but it must be recognised that Matic is the first who was never on the ropes, at least until the final.

Precisely, there was Lara Cvjetko, a teammate, as Croatian as Matic, as proud as her as well. It must be said that Cvjetko is an outstanding student, applied, one of those who studies and gets good grades. At 21, the apprenticeship is over; now she is a professional and behaves as such. She had a group to think twice about before putting on the judogi, with a first confrontation against the rugged Pinot. The Frenchwoman was thinking about the medals and forgot about Cvjetko, who had a perfect fight from a tactical point of view. The Frenchwoman ended up unhinged and was logically eliminated because the Croatian had prepared the fight better, which says a lot about her and her coaches. With the Italian Esposito, Cvjetko picked up speed and when she reached the quarters she was already sailing at cruising speed. It was a constant progression in just a few hours, an impeccable performance that had two culminations, the first against one of the top favourites, the Dutch Van Dijke, and the other in the semi-finals against another heavyweight in the category, the Japanese Niizoe. In short, if Matic reached the last match due to experience, maturity and know-how, Cvjetko went the other way, destroying opponents with the same experience, maturity and know-how as Matic.

The German Miriam Butkereit and the Japanese Saki Niizoe opened the dance of the final block. Butkereit did not have it easy at all, because the Japanese judoka is better and wanted to shake off the thorn of her defeat in the semi-finals but if anyone ever thought that winning a world medal is a piece of cake, they had better do something else. Niizoe was really angry and scored waza-ari but the Japanese also conceded two goals, so she had to hold back and keep her lead until the end.

Her compatriot Shiho Tanaka faced Sanne Van Dijke for the second bronze. This was different because there was more balance between the two, but that was true in equal conditions, However, what happened was that Tanaka hurt her leg, tried to continue, but could not and had to leave in the arms of her respectful and respected adversary. This is judo folks. It was a shame to end that way, badly injured, but health is more important than any medal.

Matic's merit is having crystallised a long-term job, that of a small country, which shines in other disciplines and which has discovered that judo can also be a source of medals. Croatia has shown that when things go well, when a proper strategy is devised, when there is patience and dedication, no goal is too far away. The performance of both women in Tashkent is the reward for all the work deployed and shows that successes do not come by chance.