In Mongolia, the country of the great warriors, the judokas of the heavyweight categories clashed during the last day of the Grand Slam of Ulaanbaatar.
This Sunday, the women particularly shone, showing remarkable power and skill throughout the day.
Among them, we find the Japanese judoka under 78 kg, Umeki Mami. The 2015 world champion faced the Israeli Inbar Lanir in the final. But Umeki’s experience prevailed, especially thanks to a powerful uchi-mata.
She thus won her 9th gold medal of the World Judo Tour, awarded by the Mongolian deputy, Damdin Tsogtbaatar.
“My opponent in the final is in a period where she is in great shape. So I preferred to adopt a tactic of powerful holds, in order to win the competition”explains the young woman.
Mongolian judoka fails in final
In the over 78 kilo category, the Mongolians expected a lot from their local champion Adiyasuren Amarsaikhan. With great support from the public and her teammates, the judoka dominated all her fights to win a place in the final.
For the last meeting, she faced one of the best fighters in her category, the Israeli Raz Hershko.
R.Hershko used his famous falling techniques, which, although they did not allow him to score points, gave him the opportunity to take the victory on the floor.
Despite the defeat in front of her home crowd, the Mongolian judoka congratulated her opponent on her victory.
The medals were presented by Badmaanyambuu Bat-Erdene, Member of the Mongolian Parliament.
“In every competition where we have a pushing audience, there’s more adrenaline, more fun, and you want to fight more, it’s really fun,” says the Israeli judoka.
Korean Kim Hayun performed a phenomenal Ippon in the +78kg third place match.
After winning the Portuguese Grand Prix at the start of the year and securing the bronze medal in Paris, she is definitely one of the people to watch in her class.
The first Grand Slam of Ulaanbaatar, a success
Judo’s popularity in Mongolia has grown significantly in recent times, and that’s largely due to their recent successes. In any case, the young heavyweights were there to prove that the future will continue to be bright for Mongolia.
