Elisavet Teltsidou efficient to gold for Greece

Greek athlete Elisavet Teltsidou claimed the gold medal at the Grand Slam in Qazaqstan Barysy. Teltsidou was winner of the Tbilisi Grand Slam in March. In the final she was able to defeat Sanne van Dijke (NED).

If the first rounds of the two finalists were spectacular, the final was more tactical, each neutralising the other until the second minute of golden score, when Elisavet Teltsidou counter-attacked Van Dijke for waza-ari. The Greek judoka earned a new gold medal at this level of competition .

Teltsidou’s first contest was a model of efficiency, as it took her only fourteen seconds to catapult her opponent, Roza Nyssantaikizy (POL), with a massive hip movement. Same movement, same result, in exactly the same time, fourteen seconds, and Teltsidou found herself in the next round after her victory over Serafina Moscalu (ROU). Two fights and 28 seconds spent on the tatami; we can say that she was not very tired. The semi-final was tougher though, ending in golden score and with penalties against the Chinese judoka, Yingying Feng, who had pushed herself to eliminate the French Margaux Pinot, winner in Dushanbe, in the first round. The final against Sanne Van Dijke promised to be explosive and it was.

Sanne Van Dijke is solid. She took silver in Tbilisi this season and was winner in Baku and Tbilisi last year. The Dutch fighter is a judoka who is not easy to knock down but it is not impossible, since after a smoothly completed first round against Kaila Issoufi (FRA) via two waza-ari, Van Dijke conceded a waza-ari against Eliza Wroblewska before turning the tables and immobilising her for ippon. It was a tense quarter final.

In the semi-final, Van Dijke was reunited with an old acquaintance as she was up against her compatriot, four-time winner of the World Judo Masters, Kim Polling. Five years separate the two athletes and this time it was the younger Van Dijke who won.

Aoife Coughlan (AUS) and Yingying Feng (CHN) were opposed in the first contest for a bronze medal. Building on her left seoi-nage, Aoife Coughlan pushed Feng to be penalised twice during normal time. If this was not enough to score, it still put her in a good position as the golden score started. After two minutes of extra time, the third penalty was awarded to the Chinese athlete, offering the medal to Coughlan and the second for Australia today.

Serafima Moscalu (ROU) and Kim Polling (NED) qualified for the second contest for a bronze medal. Moscalu immediately faced difficulties with Kim Polling attacking in all directions. The Dutch champion was rewarded with a first waza-ari for a kata-guruma that surprised Moscalu. Surprises can sometimes come twice; again Kim Polling scored a waza-ari with a rolling kata-guruma.