Gold medals shared and Cuba head women’s standings at IJF Antalya Grand Prix

A total of 14 gold medals went to 14 different countries at the International Judo Federation (IJF) World Judo Tour’s Antalya Grand Prix in Turkey.
Cuba headed the women’s medal standings at the conclusion of the three days of action after picking up a gold and silver medal, ahead of Germany in second with one goal and three bronze.

Day one’s action saw Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo defeat Olympic bronze medallist Otgontsetseg Galbradrakh of Kazakhstan to claim her sixth Grand Prix title. Krasniqi won courtesy of a convincing performance that culminated with a harai-goshi for ippon with six seconds left on the clock.

Two-time world silver medallist Andreea Chitu of Romania rediscovered her form with a devastating performance in the -52kg category.
The Romanian picked up her fifth Grand Prix win and first IJF title since the Jeju Grand Prix in 2015 by beating former world champion Urantsetseg Munkhbat. The Mongolian took bronze a week ago in the -48kg category but was dismissed with a ko-soto-gake for ippon.

European u23 Championships winner Julia Kowalczyk of Poland topped an IJF podium for the first time in her career even if she had to did it the hard way after a 10-minute duel with world number 20 Kaja Kajzer of Slovenia. Junior World Championships bronze medallist Kajzer was disqualified after six minutes of golden score for passivity as the Pole celebrated her biggest win on the IJF circuit.

Cuba’s gold medal in the women’s competitions came on the Saturday’s second day of action as Maylin Del Toro Carvajal prevailed in the -63kg category. After claiming bronze in Tbilisi the previous weekend, the Cuban won her first IJF World Judo Tour gold medal with a hard-fought win over Jing Tang of China; her victory in her first IJF final coming by a waza-ari score whilst for world number 38 Tang a silver medal still earned her best result on the international stage.

Marrakech Grand Prix bronze medallist Elisavet of Greece won her first IJF World Judo Tour final with a major upset over former world number one Maria Portela of Brazil. Buoyed from her seventh-place in Tbilisi a week ago, Teltsidou delivered gold for Greece with a sensational hip throw for ippon.

Sunday’s third and final day saw Marrakech Grand Prix winner Anna Maria Wagner of Germany make it two Grand Prix victories form as many outings this year by defeating former world bronze medallist Kaliema Antomarchi of Cuba in the -78kg final. Her victory by two scores will now move into the world’s top 10 on the IJF World Ranking List for the first time in her career as the four-time Grand Slam medallist threw with a ko-uchi-gari and completed her win by countering a uchi-mata with o-uchi-gari for yet another victory on the IJF circuit.

Iryna Kindzerska made short work of claiming gold in the +78kg Final. She clinched her third Grand Prix title for Azerbaijan after just 17 seconds in her contest with Tbilisi Grand Prix silver medallist Beatriz Souza of Brazil, producing a thunderous harai-makikomi for ippon.