And in the end also to Tbilisi the medal arrived in Grand Slam. What won her over was a superlative Asya Tavano who, in the +78 kg, put the bronze around her neck by overcoming Idalys Ortiz in the final for third place, a 34-year-old Cuban who boasts an incredible medal record, four for four Olympics. Gold in London 2012, silver in Tokyo 2021 and Rio 2016, bronze in Beijing 2008. Practically a monument, which twenty-one-year-old Asya Tavano demolished with maturity and clarity that takes on the tone of a promising omen.
It was a truly special race for Tavano who, after having beaten the Dutch Karen Stevenson, repeated herself against the Uzbek Rinata Ilmatova.
The German Renee Lucht, then winner of the category, broke Tavano’s plans to win in the quarter-finals, however granting a special opportunity, that of inflicting two very heavy defeats, first on Beatriz Souza, number 4 in the world and 6 world medalists , and then on the iconic Cuban Idalys Ortiz.
“Today I saw a different Asya, you can see that she is improving day by day, but today she did some superlative things. -commented the women’s head coach Francesco Bruyere– I’m talking about small movements he’s working on, management of the match and attitudes that perhaps aren’t perceived from the outside, but which make the difference at this level.
Unfortunately, this also gave rise to the mistake made in the quarter-finals with the German athlete: Asya tried to do a sasae tsuri komi ashi which she has been working on recently, but without too much conviction and the result was an attack done badly by a too uncomfortable position that the opponent exploited to her advantage. I like that she tried, but obviously throwing away a semifinal at a Slam like this hurts and demoralizes. However, Asya gathered her energy and reacted like a champion by playing two masterful matches, beating two of the strongest athletes in the world with clear superiority. There is still work to be done but today I am happy because I am sure I have another diamond in this great team.”
Well done also by Erica Simonetti who, in the +78 kg, won clearly over the Croatian Tina Radic, but stopped in the next round (sixteenth) with the Chinese Shiyan Xu, then seventh.
>>> THIRD DAY RESULTS GRAND SLAM TBILISI
2024-03-24 22:01:08
#Bronze #Tbilisi #bigkilling #Tavano
