Irina Dolgova signs for 100st European gold of 2015

Russian lightweight Irina Dolgova signed for the gold at the Grand Slam in Dhabi as well as the 100st European victory at IJF events this year. The tiny fighter defeated Ebru Sahin of Turkey by an armlock in the final U48kg.

Irina Dolgova surged to the first Grand Slam gold medal of her career as she defeated European Games silver medallist Ebru Sahin of Turkey in the first final of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2015. Both judoka were penalised for negative posture and after some typically intricate ne-waza work from Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist Dolgova, the Russian captured the arm of Sahin to submit her with a juji-gatame after just 67 seconds. 

In the first semi-final Sahin dismissed Olympic bronze medallist Csernoviczki Eva (HUN) by a waza-ari score. In the second semi-final fellow Turkish judoka Dilara Lokmanhekim (TUR) was undone by 20-year-old ne-waza specialist Dolgova. 

The first medal contest of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2015 was won by Lokmanhekim who defeated Baku Grand Slam winner Monica Ungureanu (ROU). With both judoka registering a yuko the contest was in the balance until Lokmanhekim stretched forwards to attack with an ouchi-gari for a yuko score. The second bronze medal was won by former Rome European Open bronze medallist Xie Shishi (CHN) who produced a career-best result at the expense of Csernoviczki. In a scoreless contest Xie was penalised once while her opponent could not impose herself in the contest as she received three shidos with the final one being given for passivity.

The 100 European gold medals this year consist of all victories at IJF senior events as well as Cadet and World Junior Championships.