France’s Madeleine Malonga kept her composure to beat Britain’s Natalie Powell in the final of the under 78 kilo category at the Samsun Grand Prix on
France’s Madeleine Malonga kept her composure to beat Britain’s Natalie Powell in the final of the under 78 kilo category at the Samsun Grand Prix on Sunday.
The World number 13 scored an early yuko and immediately followed on the floor with a perfectly executed osae-komi for ippon.
In the over 78 kilo class, China’s Sisi Ma overcame a nervous start to edge out Nihel Cheikh Rouhou in the showpiece match.
The Tunisian judoka got off to a strong start and scored a yuko but wasn’t able to hold on as Ma stepped it up a gear and eventually secured gold after immobilising her opponent.
In the men’s event, Noel Van T End of the Netherlands kept his composure to defeat Serbia’s Aleksandar Kukolj.
The top seed looked in great shape and sealed the win with an impressive ko-uchi-gari.
The bronze medals were won by Islam Bozbayev and Sherali Juraev.
In the under 100 kilo category, Elmar Gasimov beat Germany’s Karl-Richard to take gold in one of the tightest finals of the day.
With both men tied after recieving two shidos each in normal time, the bout needed to be resolved by golden score.
Fresh from winning in Tbilisi, Gasimov stayed focused and prevailed with a last-ditch waza-ari while Faicel Jaballah reigned supreme in the over 100 kilo class.
The Tunisian bounced back from his disappointing performance at the Dusseldorf Grand Prix with a solid display against Brazil’s Rafael Silva who lost on shidos.
The bronze medals were won by Hungary’s Barna Bor and Lurii Krakovetskii.