Stefannie Arissa Koyama shines again with gold in Tbilisi

After her brilliant and first victory at the Baku Grand Slam, a few weeks ago, Brazilian Stefannie Arissa Koyama again qualified for the final of the day and was opposed to Maryna Cherniak (UKR). The 21-year-old Brazilian still lives in her native Japan and reached her second final in a row on the occasion of an IJF World Judo Tour event, which is an achievement as a relative newcomer to the international stage.

After a fifth place in Düsseldorf and a seventh place in Baku, Maryna Cherniak, confirmed that she starts to have consistent results at the international level by reaching the final.

The first good opportunity for Koyama to win again, came with an opportunist combination from standing position to groundwork, that the Brazilian exploited to take down her opponent, but only for a handful of seconds, not enough to score. The rest of the match was dominated by a fight for the end of the sleeves offering no opportunities for strong attacks but finally Koyama engaged a reverse sided tsuri-komi-goshi, which even if it was in slow motion, scored a waza-ari for a second amazing victory in a row for the pocket-sized Brazilian.

Stefannie Arissa Koyama (BRA) defeated Taciana Cesar (GBS) in the semi-final while Maryna Cherniak took the advantage over the Portuguese, Maria Siderot.

The first bronze medal contest saw Melanie Clement (FRA) and Maria Siderot (POR) opposed for a place on the podium. The first effort to score was produced by Siderot, with a makikomi technique (sacrifice of her own balance) but for no score. But boosted by that first attack, the Portuguese continued to put pressure on her opponent, the French being penalised two times for passivity. The next penalty would have resulted in disqualification for Clement, but the weak attempt of tani-otoshi of Siderot, gave a clear opportunity to Clement to conclude with an uchi-mata for ippon and the bronze medal. There was one minute left on the clock.

In the second bronze medal contest, Mariia Persidskaia (RUS) faced Taciana Cesar (GBS). After one minute, Persidskaia was penalised with a first shido for passivity, the long silhouette of Cesar apparently being difficult to deal with. But less than a minute later, the Russian engaged a powerful drop-seoi-nage technique to score a first waza-ari. A second shido was awarded to Persidskaia in the last minute but some tactical groundwork offered her some more seconds to finally hear the gong, which gave her the bronze medal.