Golden Michaela Polleres on form in Antalya

In the final of the Grand Slam in Antalya Austrian Michaela Polleres looked strong and more stable than her younger opponent Tais Pina, who had also beaten 8th seed Matniyazova (UZB) and Dutch Kim Polling. Polleres threw with a very low tani-otoshi against a high attack rate from the Portuguese and then countered a little later to complete the task. Polleres was excellent all day in Antalya and left the arena with the right reward.

Two of the top 4 seeds made their way to the semi-finals after 5 of the top 8 reached the quarter-finals. Pool A brought some big surprises, beginning with a complete unknown on the World Judo Tour, Tokareva (KAZ). She threw Dan Yu (CHN) in round one, with uki-goshi and then an ashi-waza combination to set up a meeting with the number one seed but Miriam Butkereit (GER) was unwell and never arrived, so the Kazakh walked into the round of 16 where she lost against an unseeded Kim Polling (NED).

Pool B was dominated by Aoife Coughlan (AUS) while pool C was won by Olympic silver medallist Michaela Polleres (AUT). She threw Heonji Yu (KOR) twice and with ease and then beat Gercsak (HUN) and Scoccimarro (GER) by a waza-ari each. Strong throws and good management were her key advantages in Antalya.

Pool D looked to be going Tsunoda-Roustant’s (ESP) way until while leading by two penalties she got thrown for waza-ari by Taimazova (AIN) in golden score. Clearly frustrated, Ai Tsunoda Roustant had to regroup for a challenge in the repechage against the German world silver medallist. It took a lot of energy but that victory was hers, setting up a bronze medal contest against Coughlan who had been held down by Pina in their respective semi-final.

Both competitors fight with power, always hunting the throws but this time it was Tsunoda Roustant who took the win. It was won on penalties but the contest was dynamic throughout.

The other bronze medal contest was between Polling and Taimazova, the latter having lost her semi-final to Polleres by a waza-ari and then 3 penalties. Polling won her repechage contest convincingly.  However, the Dutchwoman was unable to compete and so the bronze went directly to Taimazova.