French Manon Deketer tastes the gold in Abu Dhabi

Frenchwoman Manon Deketer won the gold medal at the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi U63kg.Five times medalist on the World Judo Tour and world bronze medalist in 2022 in Tashkent, is not an unknown judoka therefore, despite a relatively distant 43rd place in the world.

Deketer had started her tournament well with two victories against Dilbara Salkarbek Kizi (SRB) on kata-guruma for ippon, then on Gabriella Moraes (BRA) with two waza-ari, one on counter and one on sasae-tsuri-komi-hashi. The semi-final between Joanna Van Lieshout and Manon Deketer promised to be of a high level and it was, the victory eventually going to the French judoka who entered the final.

To face Deketer in the final was Iva Oberon (CRO), bronze medallist at home during the Zagreb Grand Prix a few weeks ago, and so far the owner of a bronze medal in a grand slam.

In the final, none of the athletes were able to score during most of the normal time. On one side, Oberon was looking for the direct attack, on the other side Deketer was looking for the counterattack that could kill the contest. After several unsuccessful attempts, Deketer eventually managed to apply her ura-nage to score waza-ari. With twelve seconds left on the clock it was too late for Oberon to come back. Gold Medal for Deketer.

With three world champion titles already under her belt, two in the junior category and especially the senior world title here in Abu Dhabi on May 19, Joanna Van Lieshout (NED) arrived in the U.A.E. capital with a serious desire to show that she is a competitor to be reckoned with during the upcoming Olympiad despite her failure in Paris last summer.

Alessia Corrao (BEL) and Joanne Van Lieshout (NED) gave themselves an additional chance to get on the podium. For Joanne Van Lieshout it was a question of honour. After she performed a fantastic world championships earlier this year, fighting for bronze this time was definitely not planned. Performing a beautiful o-goshi-sukashi, Van Lieshout scored ippon to save her day and win the bronze medal.

On the tatami of the Mubadala Arena for the other bronze medal, we found Gabriella Moraes (BRA) and Carlotta Avanzato (ITA). The latter had a tactical win to take the bronze medal back home. Bronze medal for Carlotta Avanzato.