World Judo Masters day two: a good day for the Netherlands

World Judo Masters day two: a good day for the Netherlands
By Mark Armstrong
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World Judo Masters day two: a good day for the Dutch and a shock defeat for France's Clarisse Agbegnenou

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Day two of the World Judo Masters in Qingdao saw the youth of China excited to witness the very best in the world battling it out for Masters glory.

The Netherland's Kim Polling was on form all day, blasting her way to the -70kg final.

Coming into this event off the back of two consecutive Grand Slam finals, the three-time Masters champion was delighted to make it four, by defeating team mate Sanne Van Dijke.

After scoring Waza-ari once, she kept pushing to score again and claim victory. All smiles for Polling after an all-out attacking final.

"I like to attack and it’s also my problem," explained Polling. "Because sometimes, you also don’t need to attack. I mean some judoka are really good at it, and I am not at all, and sometimes I would waste it, I would be a bit more able to not attack, because sometimes it’s good not to attack."

In the other women’s weight, Nabekura Nami of Japan shocked the judo world by defeating four-time World Champion Clarisse Agbegnenou after a tough contest that went deep into golden score.

A big moment for Nabekura, stepping up and perhaps claiming the number one spot in Japan.

She was awarded her medal by Mr Cui Gang, Chairman of Taishan Sports Equipment Co. Ltd.

Our man of the day was the young Belgian World Silver Medallist Matthias Casse.

After a day of epic contests, grinding his way past one fantastic opponent after another, he ended the year taking the coveted Masters title, after a rematch of the World Final against Sagi Muki wasn’t to be.

He was awarded his medal by Mr Giuseppe Maddaloni, Refereeing Supervisor of the International Judo Federation.

"So my three major competitions this year," said Casse. "I did really well, so the European title, second at the Worlds and then here, the World Masters, so it’s an amazing year, I couldn’t have dreamt about it in the beginning of the year. But I’m really glad that my training is paying off and I’m looking forward to 2020"

Former World Champion Hashimoto Soichi took Gold at -73kg.

The explosive Japanese judoka was on form all day, this Ippon his highlight of his route to the finals - he thoroughly deserved his top spot on the podium in China.

Our move of the day was by the eventual Silver Medallist of the -70kg category, Sanne Van Dijke.

Taking on double World Medallist Bernabeu of Spain, she launched her for an emphatic Ippon.

Fantastic Judo on day two of the World Judo Masters.

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