It was an eventful opening day of the Zagreb Judo Grand Prix with five medals up for grabs. It was an all Turkish affair in the Women’s -48kg class
ADVERTISEMENTIt was an eventful opening day of the Zagreb Judo Grand Prix with five medals up for grabs.
It was an all Turkish affair in the Women’s -48kg class.
Three years after their first meeting on the competitive tatami Dilara Lokmanhekim once again came out on top against compatriot Ebru Sahin, who dislocated her elbow after being thrown 57 seconds into the fight.
World silver medallist and current world number two Andreea Chitu reigned supreme in the -52 kilo category.
In a tight affair Chitu battled it out with Yulia Ryzhova of Russia and scored the decisive waza-ari with 39 seconds left to strike gold.
Britain’s Nekoda Smythe-Davis celebrated her first IJF gold medal when she beat Marti Malloy in the final of the -57 kilo class.
The 22-year-old Londoner scored an ippon with 53 seconds left to enjoy her first victory over the Olympic bronze medallist after two failed attempts.
Of the two men’s gold medals on offer on the opening day Armenia’s Hovhannes Davtyan took one.
The Qingdao Grand Prix silver medallist was unstoppable throughout and concluded his Zagreb trip beating Germany’s Tobias Englmaier in the -60 kilo division.
And finally Georgii Zantaraia of Ukraine entered the final of the -66 kilo class winning his previous four bouts by ippon.
The final was no different as the 2009 world champion sent Germany’s world number 20, Sebastien Seidl crashing to the tatami and then immobilized his rival until he saw gold.