Natsumi Tsunoda wins gold Sila Ersin the hearts of the homecrowd

Natsumi Tsunoda (JPN) captured the gold medal at the Grand Slam in Antalya on Friday. In the final she defeated a Turkish opponent for her homecrowd. Still Sila Ersin was the hero of the day for the fans from Turkiye. Ranked 33rd in the world, Ersin actually had a faultless run, coming out of a half-draw where there were athletes such as world number one Assunta Scutto (ITA), Sabina Giliazova (AIN), Narantsetseg Ganbaatar ( MGL) and Baasankhuu Bavuudorj (MGL), all ranked higher than her on Olympic and World Ranking Lists.

This final between an outsider strongly supported by her public and a favourite Japanese judoka promised to be very interesting. The result was actually known quickly though, Tsunoda throwing her opponent with a tomoe-nage for waza-ari and keeping the arm under control, she pinned her down immediately before concluding with an armlock. Yes, today there were two different levels, between Tsunoda and Ersin, but this silver medal for the Turkish judoka is so promising for the future. Today she learned a lot while the gold medal was for Tsunoda.

The first bronze medal was contested by Sabina Giliazova (AIN) and Abiba Abuzhakynova (KAZ). The Kazakh, 3rd seed in Antalya, had looked extremely robust during the morning session, throwing with ashi-waza, kaeshi-waza and sutemi-waza, unafraid to employ all techniques in her arsenal. Only Tsunoda put her under any pressure at all. The result was eventually decided with penalties, as Giliazova received her third shido during the golden score period. This medal confirms the good form shown by Abuzhakynova during the day.

For the second bronze medal we had to wait for the result of the contest between Natasha Ferreira (BRA) and Narantsetseg Ganbaatar (MGL). If the first half of the contest was quite balanced, both judoka being unable to throw but showing commitment, the second half was clearly to the advantage of Ganbaatar who scored a first waza-ari with uchi-mata and a second with a sumi-gaeshi. The bronze medal headed to Mongolia.