Korean Kim Jan-Di unstoppable in 2015

South Korean Kim Jan-Di is setting quite a serie. In July she won the Asian Open as starter, in October the Grand Prix in Tashkent and on Friday in Abu Dhabi the Korean starlet captured the gold in the U57kg weight class in Abu Dhabi, her first Grand Slam victory.

Tashkent Grand Prix winner Kim Jan-Di won her second consecutive IJF World Judo Tour event as Budapest Grand Prix winner Lien Chen-Ling of Taipeh was unable to win her country’s first Grand Slam gold medal. Two-time Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist Lien, who lives in Japan and trains with members of their national team, lost out on shido penalties (2:3) as Kim continues her upward trajectory towards the summit of the category. 

In the first semi-final lien fought her way past Tyumen Grand Slam bronze medallist Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard of Canada by a yuko which was the only time either defence was breached. In the second semi-final Kim defeated former Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist Loredana Ohai of Romania after the latter was penalised with a shido for passivity.

The first bronze medal was won by beaten semi-finalist Ohai who beat Jovana Rogic (SRB) by forcing her to submit to a juji-gatame with three minutes remaining. The second bronze medal was won by Budapest Grand Prix silver medallist Viola Waechter (GER) who pointed towards her teammates in the crowd after she was awarded the contest against Beauchemin-Pinard. Waechter won by way of shido penalties (1:2).