Korea confirms strong rise

The heavyweight final for women in Paris between Kim Hayun (KOR) and Maya Akiba (JPN) was close, very close but just like her teammates from the lighter categories, Kim kept the pace high and the attack rate up. Eventually she won, 3 penalties to 2, sending Akiba to silver medal position.

The repechage became a mostly tricolour area but after losses in their respective semi-finals the two Turkish competitors dropped into the bronze medal contests, Ozturk to face Dicko and Sayit to face Tolofua. With the France versus Turkiye rivalry still very much alive, the French team wanted to reverse their fortunes and still find places on the podium.

Romane Dicko wasted no time at all, throwing Hilal Ozturk for waza-ari and then holding her perfectly to upgrade to ippon. This took the tally to 2-1 in favour of Turkiye but Julia Tolofua was still to compete for a medal as she had beaten teammate Fontaine in their repechage contest.

The second bronze medal was won on penalties and Kayra Sayit was not happy about it. She couldn’t outgrip this Frenchwoman and had to leave in 5th place. The tally stood at 2-2, even, but winning in the right round gave France both bronze medals and Turkiye had to leave with no metal at all despite their fantastic start.