Anna-Monta Olek defeats Wagner in German final

With her victory in Austria only a week ago and one at the Tbilisi Grand Slam in March, Anna-Maria Wagner (GER) was the big favourite for the gold medal at the Grand Prix in Dushanbe. Between these two victories, there was also an injury which kept the former world champion away from the world championships in Doha. The tall German did not take long to reassure those around her and her fans. In Dushanbe, we witnessed the great Wagner. Concentrated and precise, she did not offer any gifts during the preliminary rounds to any of her opponents.

In the final, she found her compatriot Anna Monta Olek, for a 100% German final. If the attacks remained unsuccessful during normal time, there were still many from both sides. In a very traditional right to right interlocking kumi-kata, Wagner and Olek neutralised each other to reach golden score, with Wagner having one shido on the board.

Things started to become a little more complicated when Anna-Maria Wagner received her second penalty and became  impossible when she was penalised a third time. It may not be the German judoka who was expected on top of the podium with Olek snatching the gold in Tajikistan.

Iriskhon Kuranbaeva (UZB) and Giorgia Stangherlin (ITA) battled for the first bronze medal. After having applied a forbidden tension on the arm while trying to throw, Iriskhon Kuranbaeva was disqualified logically, offering the victory to Giorgia Stangherlin.

Aleksandra Babintseva (AIN) and Emma Reid (GBR) had one last chance to get on the podium. With a nice initiation of ashi-waza, between de-ashi-barai and ko-soto-gake and with a slight change of direction, Babintseva took the lead and was close to concluding with an immobilisation, but Emma Reid escaped just before the ten second limit. Unfortunately for the British judoka, this was not the end and a few seconds later, Aleksandra Babintseva produced an action-reaction situation with another change in direction and propelled Reid on her back, this time for ippon.