Telma Monteiro captures second victory in Paris

Telma Monteiro regained her title as winner of the Grand Slam in Paris. She won the title before in 2012. It was her fifth medal in Paris. The U57kg final of the Grand Slam in Paris opposed world number two and top seeded athlete, Dorjsuren Sumiya of Mongolia against the current European champion Telma Monteiro of Portugal. After two minutes the Mongolian had the smallest advantage on the scoreboard as Monteiro was penalised with a shido for a forbidden foot kick. But less active than her opponent, Dorjsuren was also penalised for passivity.

Throughout the day, only a handful of golden scores were required and this was the case of the final and it was only a last false attack from Dorjsuren which gave the fourth victory in Grand Slam to the Portuguese, who took several long seconds to realise that one more time she could step on the top of the medal podium.

In the first semi-final Dorjsuren bested veteran Filzmoser Sabrina of Austria  by wazari-awasette-ippon while in the second semi-final Monteiro downed Tyumen Grand Slam winner Yoshida Tsukasa (JPN) in a scoreless contest by the only shido.

The first bronze medal was won by 2014 world champion Udaka Nae (JPN) who squeezed her way past teammate Yoshida who was urged on by her parents in the crowd. The Japanese judoka fought to a stalemate with shido penalties deciding the fate of the medal and Yoshida was penalised three times while Udaka only received one penalty.

The second bronze medal was won by the ageless Filzmoser who defeated Dusseldorf Grand Prix bronze medallist Karakas Hedvig (HUN) for the final place on the podium. 35-Year young Veteran Sabrina Filzmoser captured her fourth medal in Paris. She won in 2006 and 2008 and took bronze in 2002 and 2015, a spread of 13 years. Karakas was penalised twice in a contest which did not produce a score as the Austrian ran off the tatami to embrace with her coach. She took the record of oldest medallist this year at Grand Slams. The fourth oldest ever.

1     Sabrina Filzmoser        AUT       Grand Slam Paris                    35 y 127 d

2     Miklós Ungvári            HUN      Grand Slam Baku                    34 y 206 d

3     Joana Ramos               POR       Grand Slam Tyumen              33 y 183 d