Shori Hamada wins first Japanese GP Qingdao U78kg

Shori Hamada became the first Japanese woman who won the Grand Prix of Qingdao in the category U78kg. In the first years dominated by 2008 Olympic Champion Xiulia Yang and via Harrison, Velensek, Zhang and Sol the title went to Japan this edition. Both former winners Harrison and Sol were present in QIngdao and Harrison was set aside personally by Hamada.

The U78kg weight category is always one of the most eagerly-awaited categories at IJF events, as the number of world and Olympic medallists present is always impressive. This was again the case in Qingdao this weekend. Thus Kayla Harrison was definitely looking for a revival after her early defeat in Paris in October, but in the quarter-final, her golden hopes were ended by Hamada Shori, only bronze medallist in Tyumen last summer, who after a superb piece of ground work, immobilised the former world and current Olympic champion. In the final, the Japanese, who was definitely not among the favourites at the start of the competition in Qingdao, was opposed to the second top seeded athlete of the women’s -78kg, Audrey Tcheumeo (FRA), the 2011 world champion.

Tcheumeo as usual started her final on a high rhythm, giving no opportunities to Hamada to even put her hands on her judogi. Nothing seemed to be able to stop the French powerhouse. But this was not the idea of Hamada who during the first ground work, literally jumped on Tcheumeo’s collar to apply a shime-waza for an immediate ippon.

The first bronze medal fight took place between two former world champions, Kayla Harrison (USA - 2010) and Sol Kyong (PRK - 2013), who after a little more than two minutes had already two penalties written against her name on the scoreboard for passivity. This was enough for Harrison to win the bronze, for sure not what she came to China for, but with some more experience and fights before the Rio Olympic Games, where she expects to retain her title. But obviously all opposition has raised their level since the last Olympic Games. The challenge is still feasible though.

In the second bronze medal contest, the London 2012 silver medallist Gemma Gibbons (GBR) was opposed to Alena Kachorovskaya (RUS). The British fighter scored the first yuko after a major mistake of Kachorovskaya, who she caught with an immobilisation. But the Russian escaped for a second chance. Apparently totally exhausted after a long competition day, Gibbons had to use all her experience at the top level to keep her advantage and add one more line to her well-stocked prize list.