Kisumi Omori claims second World Tour gold this year

Japanese Kisumi Omori now knows how to win a Grand Prix Level. She previously won the Grand Prix Upper Austria and this time was able to defeat the Olympic Champion Distria Krasniqi, albeit U48kg as the Olympic Champion U52kg Uta Abe is from her own country and the undisputed queen in this class.

Olympic champion Distria Krasniqi in U48kg is now well established in her new category. After a bye in the first round, she eliminated Jessica Pereira (BRA) with a waza-ari at the start of the contest, an advantage that she maintained brilliantly, despite the Brazilian’s pressure. In the next round, Krasniqi was opposed by young Soumiya Iraoui (MAR), a finalist in Zagreb and recent African champion. It only took 16 seconds for Krasniqi to spin Iraoui into the tatami with a masterful and brilliant sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi.

With two Olympic medals around her neck, we can say that Odette Giuffrida (ITA) is an experienced athlete. She knows how to avoid almost all traps but nothing worked against Krasniqi who, in the semi-final, ruined all the hopes of the Italian competitor.

In the second half of the draw, the Kosovar's opponent was Grand Prix Linz winner Kisumi Omori (JPN) who defeated Chelsie Giles (GBR) in the semis.  It became a very interesting final when it comes to tactics. Krasniqi was clearly more powerful, which is one of her incredible strengths. On the other side, Kisumi Omori played her perfectly, wearing her down. If the Japanese judoka was penalised more at the beginning of the final, she step by step developed her pace, while the Kosovar champion was getting slower and more harmless in terms of attacks. In the end, during the golden score period, Krasniqi received a third shido synonymous with loss. Gold goes to Japan.

The first bronze medal was contested between Sita Kadamboeva (UZB) and Reka Pupp (HUN). In golden score, Pupp was very close to scoring with an o-soto-gaeshi that was well anticipated, but it earned no score as the landing was not good enough. It took a few more seconds for the Hungarian judoka, to eventually score a waza-aari with de-ashi-barai. Bronze went to Reka Pupp.

Chelsie Giles (GBR) and Odette Giuffrida (ITA) met to win the second bronze medal. So far all five matches disputed between Giles and Giuffrida have gone to golden score. Would that be the case again? Yes, it was. With only one shido on the scoreboard for Giles, the match looked quite balanced, even if the Italian judoka seemed to be more in control. This was confirmed quickly though as Giles received a second penalty. At 2 minutes 30 seconds into golden score, Chelsie Giles, who was just slightly off the pace, received her third penalty. The bronze medal was for Giuffrida, who proved to be the most tactical today. This is medal number 15 in a grand slam for the Italian.