Disi Krasniqi is stronger than ever U52kg

Olympic champion U48kg Distria Krasniqi (KOS) made good use of her place as number one seed to offer herself a new chance of a gold medal. She nailed it against Chelsie Giles with another o-uchi gari. We’ve seen that before and Chelsie Giles had felt it before. Krasniqi is confident as world number one.

By observing Chelsie Giles during the hotel breakfast a few hours before the start of competitions we could feel that there was concentration but also a lot of relaxation in the attitude of the judoka from Coventry. This was quickly confirmed as soon as she appeared on the tatami at the Accor Hotel Arena. Determined and precise, she used her favourite weapons, a long reach and formidable ne-waza, to win through the rounds, one after the other.

Krasniqi confirmed that she will be one of the favourites during the summer to win a new title, in a new weight category, which would be amazing. For the moment, she keeps focusing on her judo and today the win came from a perfectly timed o-uchi-gari for waza-ari that surprised Giles. The gold medal was for “Disi” Krasniqi on her way to the Paris Olympics.

We often heard the name of Khorloodoi Bishrelt (UAE) echoing in the stadium this morning, after her victories. It was not enough, however, to push her to reach the final but it was enough for her to join Ariane Toro Soler (ESP) to fight for the first bronze medal. Ariane Toro Soler took a strong lead with a really nice change of direction, concluded with a ko-uchi-gari for waza-ari. This is the first medal in a grand slam for the Spaniard.

Japan had a guaranteed medal with Hibiki Shiraishi (JPN) and Kisumi Omori (JPN) facing off in the second contest for a bronze medal. The victory went to Omori, with an action-reaction type of movement, awarded a waza-ari, enough for the bronze medal.