-48 kg: First Double of the Day / IJF.org

Tokyo Grand Slam 2024JAPAN all japan judo federationJapan

-48 kg: First Double of the Day

Dec 7, 2024

by: Nicolas Messner

Tamara Kulumbegashvili

It was to be expected, the Japanese judoka would be very difficult to manipulate in front of their home crowd. The first category of the day confirmed this impression since we found the four Japanese competitors in the semi-finals: Wakana Koga, Hikari Yoshioka, Misuki Kondo and Kano Miyaki. It was Wakana Koga and Misuki Kondo who qualified for the final, while the other two had one more chance to add a medal for the host country.

Gold medal contest, Wakana Koga (JPN) and Mitsuki Kondo (JPN)

Catarina Costa (POR) and Anudari Jamsran (MGL) had the honour of defending the chances of the other nations to climb on the podium.

In the final, after four minutes of an intense battle, there was nothing written on the scoreboard, not even one penalty. Surprisingly most of the contest happened on the floor, with some beautiful moves and defences. In the golden score period, the opportunity came from a standing technique. Koga launched a low seoi-otoshi for waza-ari to win her first gold medal at the Tokyo Grand Slam.

The first bronze medal opposed Anudari Jamsran (MGL) and Kano Miyako (JPN). If Anudari Jamsran took the lead with a first waza-ari, Kano Miyako scored as well, before the end of normal time, pushing both judoka into golden score. The second waza-ari went to Miyako with a perfectly timed left harai-goshi. The bronze medal was for Japan.

Catarina Costa (POR) found Hikari Yoshioka (JPN) on her path and could not avoid being pinned down by the Japanese competitor for ippon.