Maria Portela wins third career Grand Slam

It was not good to be among the top favourites in the -70kg group, as many of them were eliminated from the competition prematurely. The first finalist is however not a newcomer, Maria Portela (BRA), already having a good prize list to her credit with 9 grand slam medals so far, before the start of today's final. In front of her, a young Russian, Madina Taimazova, already a finalist in Doha this year and who, with each of her outings, shows more and more confidence.

The final was not the most spectacular of the day, as shido started to rain over the two competitors, the third one being awarded to Taimazova for grabbing under the belt, giving the opportunity to Portela to win one more gold medal on the World Judo Tour.

Fifth in Tashkent, two weeks ago, Anka Pogacnik (SLO) offered herself one more chance to stand on a podium, against Gulnoza Matniyazova (UZB), who in Tashkent recently, raised a whole people up with her beautiful bronze medal, but once again Pogacnik lost out to Matniyazova with a spectacular uchi-mata for waza-are.

To complete the podium, Joana Crisostomo (POR), only 71st in the world ranking, was opposed to Gabriella Willems (BEL), second in Düsseldorf in 2020. The victory went to Gabriella Willems, after she took control of Crisostomo's arm for an armlock and an ippon.