NAPOLI, 4 July – The first day of the Judo competition was intense. During the final rounds, seven
winners were decided on Ippon, a winning move that awards the highest score. The sizeable crowd at
Pavilion 6 at Mostra d’Oltremare was thrilled as team Japan emerged biggest winner of the day, with
one gold medal and two silver. Japan was closely followed by Russia, with one gold, one silver and one
bronze.
One of the most eye-catching matches was the women’s 70kg gold medal bout. Japanese athlete
Shiho Tanaka had to fight tough and remain aggressive throughout against her Russian Madina
Taimazova. The two fought till the last moment, taking the bout into overtime. Within seconds after
that, Tanaka defeated Taizamova with ippon.
“My goal was to win the gold medal and I am happy that I made it,” said a delighted Tanaka afterwards.
She is a Universiade freshman and says she has found the atmosphere at the Universiade as very
unique. Along with training she has also had a lot of fun in these days.
Austria’s Johannes Pacher won the gold medal in the men’s 90kg category, also with ippon over
Georgia’s Lasha Bekauri. “It is amazing to win a gold medal for my country” he said. “I hope it can
become an inspiration for others to also win and achieve what I have achieved now.”
For Sarah Maekelburg of Germany in the women’s competition and Gustavo Assis of Brazil in the
men’s, this year’s competition was a sweet opportunity to make amends for disappointment the last
time round. Both of them had participated in the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade, but had gone
home without a medal. This time, they both won bronze in their respective categories.
“Last time, I thought it was the worse thing to go home without a medal,” said Maekelburg who
claimed bronze in the women’s -70kg. “This time I am happy to go home with a medal. I think this is
because I developed well in training during these two years.”
Judo competition continues on 5 July, starting at 11:00 am, and will see finals in the women’s -57kg
and -63kg, and men’s -73kg and -81kg.
Results:
Women’s -70kg
Gold: Shiho TANAKA (JPN)
Silver: Madina TAIMAZOVA (RUS)
Bronze: Sarah MAEKELBURG (GER), Hanna ANTYKALO (UKR)
Women’s +70kg
Gold: Mi Jin HAN (KOR)
Silver: Maya AKIBA (JPN)
Bronze: Sebile AKBULUT (TUR), Anna GUSHCHINA (RUS)
Men’s -90kg
Gold: Johannes PACHER (AUT)
Silver: Lasha BEKAURI (GEO)
Bronze: Gustavo ASSIS (BRA), Krisztian Toth (HUN)
Men’s +90kg
Gold: Ruslan SHAKHBAZOV (RUS)
Silver: Kanta NAKANO (JPN)
Bronze: Mukhammadkarim KHURRAMOV (UZB), Minjong KIM (KOR)
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