Dilara Lokmanhekim captures title but Turkey lost Sahin in Zagreb

Samsun Grand Prix bronze medallist Dilara LOKMANHEKIM (TUR) reigned supreme against Tbilisi Grand Prix bronze medallist Ebru SAHIN (TUR). SAHIN dislocated her elbow in the process having landed awkwardly and will be expected to be available to resume training in three months time. A sad ending of what could be considered a great success for Turkey, but there was no smile after the match.

The Turkish rivals had only met on the international stage once previously in 2012 at the Istanbul European Cup where LOKMANHEKIM came out on top. World number 27 LOKMANHEKIM triumphed against world number 19 SAHIN with a ko-soto-gake after 57 seconds. 

In the first semi-final LOKMANHEKIM dismissed Astana Grand Prix bronze medallist Valentina MOSCATT (ITA) with a positive display to book her spot in the final. The Turkish judoka, who bested number one seed Taciana LIME-BALDE (GBS) in the quarter-finals, opened the scoring with a waza-ari as MOSCATT failed to reply with repeated seoi-nage efforts as the former absorbed those attacks.

An all-Turkish final was confirmed when SAHIN, who took to the tatami with the semi-final victory of her teammate from the previous contest no doubt in her mind, was too sharp for 19-year-old Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist Irina DOLGOVA (RUS). With a steely focus SAHIN subdued ne-waza specialist DOLGOVA with a calculated shime-waza technique as the Russian tapped out after 26 seconds.  

The first bronze medal was awarded to DOLGOVA who bounced back from a semi-final loss to beat Casablanca African Open bronze medallist Scarlett GABRIELLI (FRA). The young Russian scored a yuko with a cutting piece of ashi-waza to break the deadlock with 29 seconds remaining as she earned the third Grand Prix medal of her career. The second bronze medal was won by MOSCATT who just did enough to deny Tbilisi Grand Prix runner-up Julia FIGUEROA (ESP). The contest was a stalemate at the halfway point and they were not separated on the scoreboard until the final minute when FIGUEROA was penalised with a shido for passivity. MOSCATT was penalised for the same reason moments later but found her scoring touch with 13 seconds left by throwing with a drop seoi-nage for a yuko and punched the air in celebration after the four minutes had elapsed.          

Top seed and world number six LIMA-BALDE had to settle for seventh-place after losing out by hansoku-make against GABRIELLI for receiving four shido penalties in her first repechage contest having led by a waza-ari from a trademark ouchi-gari. Meanwhile teenage world bronze medallist Amandine BUCHARD (FRA), who was due to revert back from -52kg to -48kg duty today, failed to attend the weigh-in on Friday night and watched the action from the stands.