Giliazova catches another Grand Slam gold

The first known final of the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi was in the U48 kg category, with a contest between Andrea Stojadinov (SRB), winner of the Tashkent Grand Slam 2023, and Sabina Giliazova (IJF), finalist in Kazakhstan earlier in the season. For both athletes a win would mean a second grand slam gold medal as Giliazova also won the Tashkent Grand Slam in 2024.

In the final, Andrea Stojadinov was the first in action, putting pressure on her opponent and forcing her to be penalised a first time. The contest then became more balanced as golden score was fast approaching.

With ten seconds before the final gong, Sabina Giliazova executed a perfect change in direction concluded with a sumi-gaeshi for waza-ari. The drive change was perfect and the timing was excellent. Gold medal for Sabina Giliazova.

The first contest for the bronze medal saw Abiba Abuzhakynova (KAZ) face Sarah Ischt (GER). Being number 4 in the world, Abuzhakynova was definitely not expecting to compete for bronze only against Sarah Ischt, who is more of an unknown judoka at that level. But here we are with an unexpected bronze medal contest.

The least we can say is that Ischt was not afraid to go forward and despite two shido, she was the first to score with a o-uchi-gari for waza-ari. Unfortunately for her, this woke up Abuzhakynova who then scored waza-ari as well with o-soto-otoshi, followed immediately by a pin down for ippon. Abiba Abuzhakynova saved the bronze medal.

The second bronze medal opposed Melanie Legoux Clement (FRA) and Marina Vorobeva (IJF). It was a very close contest that the two judoka delivered. At the end of the normal time only one shido was registered on the scoreboard for Legoux Clement.

At the beginning of the golden score, both athletes were penalised again bringing to two the number of shido for Legoux Clement and one for Vorobeva. After four minutes of golden score, Marina Vorobeva received her second penalty, making two shido apiece. The third infringement was not long to come for Vorobeva, offering the bronze medal to Melanie Legoux Clement.

Earlier during the day, at the top of the draw, if more was expected from Abiba Abuzhakynova (KAZ), seeded number one, she was quickly eliminated in favour of Marina Vorobeva who therefore faced Andrea Stojadinov in the semi-final, for a victory for the Serbian judoka.

At the bottom of the draw, the hierarchy was respected with Giliazova qualifying for the final after a flawless run and a victory against Sarah Ischt (GER) in the semi-final.