Saki Niizoe (26 = Self-Defense Force), who finished third in the previous tournament, won the championship for the first time.

Played against Giovanna Scotchmaro (Germany) in the final, and performed her signature uchimata technique. I grabbed her leg and found the right timing, jumped up at once and threw it on her tatami mat, held it down as it was and combined it with one. She reached the pinnacle of her dreams.

Won 5 games from the second round of the first match. In the quarterfinals, she won against 2019 tournament queen Marieve Gayet (France) with a 3-instruction. She avenged a difficult opponent she lost at the World Masters last December, and in the semi-finals, two-time defending champion Barbara Matic (Croatia) had a trick at the end of the match. Her momentum was unstoppable as she dominated opponents who matched her previous two wins to reach her first final.

It is the first time in four tournaments and five years since Chizuru Arai in 2018 that a Japanese team has won this class. Arai retired from the gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics (Olympics) on the runway, and Yoko Ohno, who won the silver medal at the world championships in the same year, also retired from active duty.

With the absence of the leading figure, the All Japan Judo Federation positions it as the most important strengthening class. Shiho Tanaka and Nizoe were dispatched to last year’s tournament. In particular, Niizoe was selected after being urged to break out of his shell while losing the first match at the All Japan Invitational Weight Category Championship. His height of 170 cm followed last year’s 3rd place, and he lived up to expectations.

With this, he advanced to the Paris Olympics representative next summer.