Tschopp shines on Agadir Judo Grand Prix opening day

Evelyne Tschopp of Switzerland takes gold in Agadir
Evelyne Tschopp of Switzerland takes gold in Agadir Copyright (c) Sabau Gabriela
By Euronews
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Swiss star takes under 52 kilo crown in just 25 seconds

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On day one of the Agadir Judo Grand Prix Evelyne Tschopp of Switzerland is our woman of the day.

She needed just 25 seconds to take gold in the under 52 kilo category, catching Alexandra-Larisa Florian from Romania first with a waza-ari and then an ippon.

It was Tschopp’s first medal on the IJF world tour for two years.

"I knew that she was left handed,” she said, “And my goal was just to hold the sleeve down. Don’t let her go up in the back and go out on the tatami to have fun. Not to be too much concentrated on something and just sleeve, sleeve, sleeve. And she attacked seoi nage or something like that. I just had my hip in front and then I just pulled her and then it was possible to hold her down with an osaekomi.''

Adrian Gomboc of Slovenia is our man of the day.

He took care of Daniel Jean from France in the preliminaries. And the outsider scored a golden waza-ari against Yerlan Serikzhanov of Kazakhstan in the under 66 kilo final.

A quick hand movement got the Kazakh moving and Gomboc used the momentum to pull his opponent right over the top.

“Yes the final was very tough, I knew he was very strong,” said Gomboc. “He’s right-sided so for me this is good, but he didn’t want to fall, but I felt his condition was not as good as mine so I took the opportunity. I knew that sooner or later the match would go in my hands and this happened in the first minute of the golden score."

In the lightest female category, the under 48 kilos, quick footwork brought gold for Russia’s Irina Dolgova, who was just too good for Portugal’s Catarina Costa.

In the men's under 60 kilos Kazakhstan’s Gusman Kyrgyzbaev spectactularly overcame Turkey’s Bekir Ozlu to take gold.

But the move of the day came in the all Morocco bronze medal contest at the same level, when Issam Bassou executed a perfect Uchi Mata against team mate Yassine Moudatir.

It was Bassou's first ever IJF world tour medal!

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