Kim Seong Yeon continues success in Asia with gold in Tashkent

At the second day of the Grand Prix in Tashkent the women U70kg saw some surprises in their category. Former world bronze medallist Kim Seongyeon (KOR) won her maiden Grand Prix title in Tashkent as she stopped Astana Grand Prix silver medallist Esther Stam (GEO) from achieving the same feat in the -70kg final. After a tentative first half of the contest, Kim increased her activity and pressured Stam who became only the second Georgian woman to win a Grand Prix medal following Irine Leonidze who won the Baku Grand Prix in 2012.

Kim went ahead with a yuko and was penalised twice for going out of the area but had all the tools to see out the remainder of the contest and achieve yet more success for South Korea’s women’s team in Uzbekistan. 

In the first semi-final contest Stam saw off Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix bronze medallist Iljana Marzok (GER) in golden score by a shido penalty while in the second semi-final Abu Dhabi Grand Slam bronze medallist Katarzyna Klys (POL) lost out to Kim by a shido.

The first bronze medal was claimed by Klys who managed to come up with a yuko which was the only score in her contest with former World Judo Masters winner Hwang Ye-Sul (KOR). The second bronze medal contest was won by Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix silver medallist Zhou Chao (CHN) who outworked her opponent Marzok for the entire contest. The all-action Zhou never took a backwards step and, despite not being able to trouble the scoreboard, the outcome never looked in doubt. Marzok was penalised for gripping infringements and shidos settled the fate of the medal as the German had to settle for fifth-place.