Asian Judo

Asians continued to show their strength in the light weight categories in the 2nd day of the World Championships. In an all japan - 66kg final, Abe and Maruyama continued their rivalry with Abe came out on top again, this time without any golden score. An Baul from Korea rounded out the 3rd representative from Asia on the podium.

In the - 52kg category, it is a different scene with 3 European medalists and only Abe from Japan, managed to get the gold medal from a very strong pool of players. In a replay of the last Olympic final, Abe was in danger a few times and had to overcome a very strong Amandine Bouchard from France and her signature Kata Guruma to move into the final. In the final, she faced the ever improving and consistent player, GILES Chelsie from the Great Britain, which she was able to come out on top and won on the same day as her brother. Former Olympic champion in the - 48kg, Distria Krasniqi from Kosovo, continued to show that she is as strong in -52kg with no problem at the new category.

Another work day for Takato

While Asia was relatively behind in terms of opening after the pandemic, the podium was consisted of all Asian players. Takato, competing the first time since the Tokyo Olympic claimed the gold for traditional powerhouse Japan, with a manner of just another day in the office, with ARIUNBOLD from Mongolia taking silver. Olympic silver medalist Yang from Chinese Taipei continued his good form and took bronze with former world champion Smetov from Kazakhstan despite strong competitions from European players.

Tsunoda took gold quietly again. She was in good form since the beginning and was never threatened. Relying on her favorite technique tomoe nage and newaza, she was able to beat everybody along the way convincingly despite not being the #1 player from her country. Let's call it mission accomplished with the 2021 world champion retaining her red backpatch for another year.