The judo world is in the the French capital for the Grand Slam of Paris 2016.
ADVERTISEMENTThe judo world is in the French capital for the Grand Slam of Paris 2016.
euronews correspondent Pedro Lasuen guides us through the thrills ‘n’ spills of the opening day: “If Tokyo means tradition then Paris is prestige, injuries aside the world’s best judoka are here and highly motivated performing in front of 15,000 spectators a day for a purse of €100,000.
There are 500 points on offer for the winners and the chance to stake a serious claim for gold ahead of the Rio Olympics.”
Agbegnenou thrills the home crowd
Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh of Kazakhstan won the women’s -48kg category title by beating Mongolia’s Urantsetseg Munkhbat, the lightest class produced a real heavyweight contest.
Galbadrakh Otgontsetseg captures first gold for Kazachstan https://t.co/RK1mGIlmRE Mongolian switched to Kazachstan pic.twitter.com/WFrkTKl9aJ
— JudoInside.com (@JudoInside) November 26, 2015
In the women’s -52kg category Kosovo’s Majlinda Kelmendi defeated Romania’s Andreea Chitu by ippon after a flashing 39 seconds of combat.
Majlinda Kelmendi fiton sërish medalje të artë në Paris https://t.co/zlUEzoXc7fpic.twitter.com/8ApwUn2FbT
— TE SHESHI (@tesheshi) February 6, 2016
The -57kg final saw South Korea’s prolific Jan-DI Kim take on the 2015 Moroccan Masters winner Mongolia’s Sumiya Dorjsuren with Kim coming away with yet another title.
On home tatami France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou got the better of Japan’s Miku Tashiro in the -63kg class.
The 2014 world champion winning four of her fights by ippon.
#Judo (-63 kg) Clarisse #Agbegnenou remporte l'or pour la 3ème fois au Grand Chelem de Paris ! pic.twitter.com/DhJzma8Mfk
— INFOSPORT+ (@infosportplus) February 6, 2016
Clarisse Agbegnenou en finale du Paris Grand Slam https://t.co/nhhAPt3bIbpic.twitter.com/cMJX0mYTTV
— L'ÉQUIPE 21 (@lequipe21) February 6, 2016
In the men’s -66 kg category the Japanese Judoka Masashi Ebinuma defeated Davvaadorj Tumurkhuleg from Mongolia in under a minute.
Great top match: current World Champion An Ba-Ul vs Masashi Ebinuma, won by the triple World Champion #JudoParis2016pic.twitter.com/WRaBKB7otr
— JudoInside.com (@JudoInside) February 6, 2016
An Changrim of South Korea engaged in a marathon final with Russia’s Denis Iartcev,the bout lasted five minutes, it eventually went the way of the Korean to win the -73 kg class.
Capping the first day of #ParisGrandSlam#Judo congratulations to #안창림#김잔디#금메달#anchangrim#jandi#goldmedalpic.twitter.com/0ZZXuzTRlL
— Dian So 莲莲 (@dian891016) February 6, 2016
surprise defeat3>
The surprise of the day saw the elimination of Japan’s 2014 world champion Ami Kondo in her first fight by eventual winner of the -48kg category Kazakstan’s Galbadrakh.