Laborde on great form, but Wakana Koga snatches Masters gold

In the final of the IJF Masters for women U48kg it took Japanese lightweight Wakana Koga less than one and a half minutes to launch an ippon-scoring seoi-otoshi for gold. The unseeded American Maria Celia Laborde has had an outstanding day and at 33 years of age, it looks like she has secured her spot in Paris next year. Wakana Koga takes the gold and makes her own bid for the Paris Games.

The first bronze medal contest, between Scutto and Nikolic was all Scutto from beginning to end. She dominated the gripping aggressively and never looked under pressure. It took time for the score to arrive but it did, an unorthodox grip and a fast ko-soto-gake put a waza-ari on the board, which she held until the time ran out.

The second bronze medal contest was fought by Martinez Abelenda and Bavuudorj, with the Mongolian pushing on like a bulldozer, constantly adding power and pressure from one exchange to the next. The Spanish fight was able to only introduce occasional dropping techniques but the onslaught was unrelenting. With less than 30 seconds to go and with 2 penalties already against her name, Martinez Abelenda had no choice but to attack and this time her unsuccessful placement left Bavuudorj with an opportunity in transition, which she took gratefully, spinning on the arm and sinking into an inescapable juji-gatame for bronze.

Assunta Scutto began the day as number one but she certainly didn’t finish there. Mongolian Baasankhuu Bavuudorj put paid to Scutto’s goal in an all-action quarter-final that had no score at full time.

We barely noticed the time passing, such was the energy on the tatami. 42 seconds into golden score the Mongolian received a penalty and her response was to throw the Italian with osoto-gari for waza-ari, moving into a semi-final against the number 5 seed, Wakana Koga (JPN), who beat Costa (POR) to get there.

On the bottom half of the draw Blandine Pont (FRA), by ranking, should have met Milica Nikolic in the semi-final, with them being the 2nd and 3rd ranked athletes on the sheet. However, only Nikolic (SRB) respected the hierarchy, passing Tanzer (AUT) and Ganbaatar (MGL) along the way.

Pont, despite being the world number 4, promoted to number two in Budapest in the absence of Boukli (FRA) and Tsunoda (JPN), couldn’t quite find her sharpest judo and against Martinez Abelenda (ESP), in the round of 16, she lost on penalties in golden score, in a contest that was far more explosive than the scoreline suggested. There were not only many standing attacks close to scoring but also a sincere to and fro style on the ground with both willing to engage in kansetsu-waza, among other potentially match-finishing scenarios.

Martinez Abelenda had done what should have been the hardest work of the morning session but it was not enough. Laborde was on excellent form, employing strong tactical awareness to deal with Rishony (ISR) and Lin (TPE) before blocking the Spaniard’s path to gold in the quarter-final. Laborde then surprised the Serbian too, leapfrogging her to land squarely in the final with Koga.

Spotlight:

Maria Celia Laborde of the USA, was formerly fighting for Cuba and won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Chelyabinsk in 2014 U48kg. She won the Pan Am Championships in the same year and was multiple Champion of Cuba. She won bronze at the Grand Slam of Paris in 2013. Since 2021 she became a judoka representing the United States. She claimed a bronze medal at the Pan American Oceania Championships in Lima in 2022. She took the victory at the Panam Open in Santo Domingo in 2022. She claimed the gold at the Oceania Open in Perth in 2022. This time she was on great form taking a silver medal with golden edge at the masters.