IJF World Tour starts with all japanese final U48kg

Japanese youngster Kano Miyaki has good experiences in Portugal. Last year Miyaki won the Junior World title in Odivelas. She was the successor Hikari Yoshioka who won the title in 2022. In Friday’s first IJF World Tour final of the year both were each-others opponents in the class U48kg in an all Japanese final.

Kano Miyaki and Hikari Yoshioka now both have good experiences of winning gold in Odivelas. In the final, Hikari Yoshioka, who stood in front of Miyaki. Surprisingly, the two judoka have very similar profiles, since Yoshioka is also junior world champion (Guayaquil 2022) and cadet world champion (Almaty 2019). Since then she has also won the Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam and the Universiade. The contest therefore promised to be close.

Kano Miyaki representing the future of Japanese judo, is already able to climb among the elite. Already a junior world champion but also a cadet world champion (Sarajevo 2022), this seoi-nage specialist is climbing the steps of fame one by one. Miyaki was immediately to action with a low seoi-nage but for no-score. Having the same size and both being left-handed, the contest would be decided in favour of  the one who could find a slight crack in the opponent's defence. It is exceptional enough to mention that golden score came with no shido up on the scoreboard. Nothing seemed to interfere and the golden score period looked like it would go on for hours until Hiraki Yoshioka executed a perfect change in direction, pushing her opponent on to her side with a ko-uchi-gari for waza-ari. This is a 100% Japanese victory.

Abiba Abuzhakynova (KAZ), already a medallist several times on the world circuit, saw Sila Ersin (TUR), junior world silver medallist last year in Odivelas, on her way to the podium. Last year Abuzhakynova lost to Kano Miyaki in the final. With neither judoka being able to claim the gold or silver medal at this grand prix, the bronze medal remained within reach. The first dangerous situation came from Abuzhakynova with a big pick-up but there was not enough movement to turn her opponent on to her back. As the contest unfolded, Sila Ersin was penalised twice, putting her at risk. As the end of the contest approached, Sila Ersin was penalised a third time for gripping the judogi clearly under the belt, which is not allowed. A third penalty equals a disqualification. The bronze medal goes to Abiba Abuzhakynova.

Narantsetseg Ganbaatar (MGL) is a robust athlete who reached the podium of a grand slam three times in 2023 (Tbilisi, Antalya and Dushanbe). She therefore knows the pressure of these big event but did she really know her opponent of the day for the bronze medal? Nothing is less certain since Su Song Jon (PRK) has appeared very little on the circuit, if at all, since her only references are a junior world bronze medal (Marrakech 2019) and a fifth place during the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022. Today Su Song Jon took down three judoka ranked in the top 20 in the world, showing that she really had a good day. With a big hip movement, it was Ganbaatar who actually took the lead in the battle for bronze with a waza-ari. This was enough for the Mongolian judoka to win the bronze medal.