Naeko Maeda books first IJF World Tour victory

Naeko Maeda of Japan was undefeated in the women’s U70kg category at the Grand Prix in Hohhot as she matched the gold medal exploits of her lighter teammate Miku Tashiro Miku. In her first Grand Prix start Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist Maeda, took the final to Kim Seongyeon of Korea.

Kim who's Asian Championships silver medallist was eventually disqualified after receiving her third shido for passivity. World number 16 Kim, a two-time Grand Prix winner, failed to threaten Japan’s superiority as Asia controlled the destiny of the U70kg title.

In the first semi-final European Championships bronze medallist Barbara Matic (CRO) fell to Maeda via hansoku-make. In the second semi-final Kim bested Tbilisi Grand Prix bronze medallist Natascha Ausma (NED) by the maximum score with one minute left on the clock.

The first bronze medal was claimed by former Junior World Championships bronze medallist Ausma as Jeong Hye Jin (KOR) could not compete due to dislocating her elbow in her previous contest.

The second bronze medal was captured by the top seed Matic who was superior to Tbilisi Grand Prix bronze medallist Gercsak Szabina (HUN). The Hungarian judoka, who is relishing the prospect of a home World Championships next month, fought through the pain barrier having picked up a left knee injury in the preliminaries and struggled as the contest went into the latter stages. Croatia’s Matic countered a last-ditch ashi-waza attack for a waza-ari score with 12 seconds remaining and the Hungarian had to settle for fifth-place.

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