Saddened by her defeat in the finals of the World championships, Ayumi Uekusa (+68 kg) did not want to miss her Parisian visit. She qualified for the final ! She will be opposed Sunday to France’s Nancy Garcia. Another French, Gwendoline Philippe (-61 kg), also wanted to hit hard. She will have her second consecutive final in Paris. Germany's Johanna Kneer (-68 kg), the World team champion Laura Sivert (-61 kg) and Mehdi Filali (+84 kg) will compete for the bronze medal match. All the finals.
By Ludovic Mauchien
Two defeats in two finals in a World championship, individual and team. It was in Madrid last November. She was disconcerted, saddened, dazed. Then she worked, hard, very hard. Three months later, Japan’s Ayumi Uekusa qualified for the final of the Paris Open Premier League. « I am very, very happy. I was very disappointed by my Worlds. And, in addition, it’s always a pleasure to be in the final in Paris », she said in the wake of her qualification. She will fight France’s Nancy Garcia, already finalist last year and, moreover, her winner in the final in Tokyo last October.
In -61 kg, the Grand Winner 2018 resumes her good habits. Gwendoline Philippe reached again the final of a Premier League after having, in particular, dominated her fellow team World champion, Laura Sivert, in the semi-final. She will fight Egypt’s Gianna Lotfy for a rematch of the World championships.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Johanna Kneer (-68 kg), beaten in the 3rd round by the running European champion and future finalist, Switzerland’s Quirici, has gone through the repechage and will play the bronze medal match against Egypt’s Abdelaziz. As France’s Mehdi Filali (+84 kg), finalist last year. He lost in the quarter-final against Iran’s Abazari. For bronze, he will be opposed to Belarus Vodochyts.
Finals and matches for bronze (Sunday)
Men
-60kg
Final : Crescenzo (Ita) vs Hassaniaideilami (Ira)
Bronze : Albasher (Ksa) vs Assadilov (Kaz) and Plakhutin (Rus) vs Martinez (Ven)
–67kg
Final : Steven Da Costa (Fra) vs Lucas Maresca (Ita)
Bronze : Zakaria (Mar) vs Amirali (Kaz) and Muratov (Kaz) vs D’Onofrio (Ita)
–75kg
Finale : Aghayev (Aze) vs Nishimura (Jap)
Bronze : Horuna (Ukr) vs Scott (Usa) and Asiabari (Ira) vs Sakiama (Jap)
-84 kg
Finale : Anton (Blr) vs Ghararizadeh (Ira)
Bronze : Shimada (Jap) vs Poorshab (Ira) and Aktas (Tur) vs Ahmed Ramadan (Egy)
+84 kg
Final : Arbazari (Ira) vs Arkania (Geo)
Bronze : Ganjzadeh (Ira) vs Mahmoud (Egy) and Vodochyts (Blr) vs Filali (Fra)
Kata
Final : Kiyuna (Jap) vs Quintero (Spa)
Bronze : Moto (Jap) vs Horiba (Jap) and Arata (Jap) vs Shimbaba (Jap)
Femmes
–50kg
Final : Miyahara (Jap) vs Ozcelik (Tur)
Bronze : Perfetto (Ita) vs Da Paula (Bra) and Hubrich (Ger) vs Salama (Egy)
-55kg
Final : Terliuga (Ukr) vs Banaszczyk (Pol)
Bronze : Busa (Ita) vs Ouhammad (Mar) and Nakamura (Jap) vs Ishiai (Jap)
-61kg
Final : Philippe (Fra) vs Lotfy (Egy)
Bronze : Sivert (Fra) vs Vasovic (Ser) and Alipourkeshka (Ira) vs Coban (Tur)
-68 kg
Final : Someya (Jap) vs Quirici (Swi)
Bronze : Ramos (Mex) vs Vizcaino (Spa) and Abdelaziz (Egy) vs Kneer (Ger)
+68kg
Final : Garcia (Fra) vs Uekusa (Jap)
Bronze : Sugimoto (Jap) vs Okila (Egy) and Saito (Jap) vs Abbasli (Ira)
Kata
Final : Sanchez (Spa) vs Shimizu (Jap)
Bronze : Ono (Jap) vs Kokumaï (Usa) and Bottaro (Ita) vs Lau (Hk)