Abiba Abuzhakynova survives the final storm in final U48kg

The final block of the first day of the 2025 Upper Austria Grand Prix opened with a great deal of expectation. Abiba Abuzhakynova (KAZ), world silver medallist, and junior world medallist Sachiyo Yoshino (JPN) stepped on to the tatami for an all-action -48 kg final.

Yoshino opened the bidding with an early yuko which the Kazakh fight responded to well, attacking harder, eventually catching Yoshino in the middle of her own technique, countering for a waza-ari. Yoshino unleashed a whole new pace of attack to put Abuzhakynova under a great deal of pressure; it was relentless! She came very close to earning a third shido but managed to hold her ground just enough to secure the win. It was a gold for Kazakhstan.

At just 18 years old, Asian junior champion Laziza Haydarova (UZB) is having a fantastic day in Linz. Facing the more experienced Amber Gersjes (NED), already a medallist at 3 previous grand prix events, for the chance to win a bronze medal, is a fitting reward for a really gutsy performance which the youngster sustained from the very first round. 
The contest was fast paced, attack after attack coming from both judoka but it must be said that there was little preparation from either. Both rushed, not wanting to be left behind but without kuzushi, the prize can be a shido rather than a medal; this is how the first few minutes went. After two and a half minutes of the golden score period, the young Uzbek was ahead but only just, 2 penalties to one. The toughness she had shown in the morning was still present and there was no let up from her, her energy being consistent throughout. The anomaly though, was that as 4 minutes of extra time passed, both fighters seemed to find a new gear and attacks became stronger, better prepared and far more dangerous. As the 9th minute of contest time approached, Haydarova applied a shime-waza which was very close to finishing the contest but to no avail, Gersjes resisted and so it continued. 90 seconds later, the Dutch judoka went for an uchi-mata but the direction was not ideal and a head-dive ensued, therefore Haydarova won via hansoku-make. This is her first grand prix medal.
In the second bronze medal contest, current Panamerican medallist Maria-Celia Laborde (USA) took only a minute to throw Sarah Ischt (GER) fro a yuko and follow up with a devastating shime-waza for ippon. Despite her long and illustrious career, including a Masters medal and a world medal, this is Laborde’s first grand prix medal and it was clear that this meant a lot to the American judoka.