Diyora Keldiyorova regains title at Grand Slam Baku

The biggest hitters in the category, those we can almost always rely on to be among the medals, were the number one and two seeds in Baku: Keldiyorova (UZB) and Giuffrida (ITA). Their objectives were clear, to consolidate and to dominate.

Diyora Keldiyorova came through her half of the draw like a steam train, leaving nothing to chance, dominating in tachi-waza and ne-waza equally, preferring neither one nor the other. Her armlock against Martinez (MEX) in round two came after only 18 seconds of contest time and in the next bout she dispatched the host’s athlete, Valiyeva, in little over a minute. Against Puljiz in the semi-final, she looked in a different league, moving into the final as if she belonged there.

Giuffrida dominated so clearly in her first contest that Abeuvoa (KAZ) had no response, amassing 3 penalties in under 2 minutes. The Italian double Olympic medallist then jumped over Asvesta (CYP) into a semi-final against 20 year old Paris medallist Ariane Toro Soler (ESP), which she also passed through expertly.

In the final Keldiyorova and Odette Giuffrida got straight down to work. It was a high-paced contest, perhaps more guarded than the previous rounds but with plenty of action. Keldiyorova's Sumi-Otoshi certainly wasn't classical but it fulfills the criteria for a sumi-otoshi. It was a pure hand technique and in the right direction for a sumi-otoshi.

Odette Giuffrida is a master of employing the rules in her favour but Keldiyorova is becoming the master of opponent analysis and she just gets better and better at it as the months roll on. At the halfway point, feeling an entry coming from the Italian, the Uzbek used her hands to turn the presented energy into a counter, Giuffrida landing largely on the back but with a slight lack of control. Waza-ari was given after review and the contest continued with no further additions to the scorebard. It was gold for Keldiyorova and silver for the double Olympic medallist.

Puljiz (CRO) dropped into one bronze medal contest, to face Gyertyas (HUN). There she looked to be leading through most of the conest but lost her feet in a rushed moment that Gyertyas was able to capitalise on for a waza-ari.

From that point, Puljiz dominated even more and forced two penalties against the Hungarian but time was running out to equalise the positive score. She did though, with just a few seconds to go in normal time. She looked set to take the medal as the extra time began but she couldn't hold her line and collected her own two penalties to even the scoreline at one waza-ari and two penalties apiece. Gyertyas grew in confidence and piled on the pressure, adding a 3rd shido to her opponent's card, taking the win unexpectedly. This is her first grand slam medal.

The other bronze medal was contested by Aidan Valiyeva (AZE) and Toro Soler (ESP). The Spanish competitor found little resistance against one of her favourite techniques and threw Valiyeva twice with ko-uchi-gake to take herslef on to the podium.