Kosovo celebrates first official world title

Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo won world gold for Kosovo as she defeated former Cadet World Championships silver medallist Mariam Janashvili of feorgia in the U52kg final. Janashvili is one of a host of young Georgian women now breaking through as they develop their women’s programme towards one day matching their men’s results. The Georgian fighter was penalised with a shido for holding onto the one side for too long. Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist Krasniqi absorbed the best attacks of Janashvili and sealed the title by scoring ippon from a kosoto-gari.

After stepping off the podium Krasniqi said: “It means so much to me to be on top of the podium for my country and to hear our anthem. I came here with the goal of winning and I’m very happy. Everything went well in the preparation and now I will concentrate on senior competitions with the goal of repeating this world title as a senior.”

Krasniqi will now remain in Abu Dhabi for the Grand Slam and said that today’s gold medal was ideal preparation. “I feel in very good shape and I am enjoying the setting in Abu Dhabi. I think this may be a lucky place for me, we will see in the Grand Slam but I feel full of confidence and I’m looking forward to my next challenge.”

Agron Kuka, Kosovo Judo Federation President, who was coaching his judoka all day long, said: “This is a great thing for my country and our Federation. We do not just have one or two judoka now, we are developing all the time. For a small country, we are very pleased and proud of our success and this is a great feeling for us all today.

 “The whole team puts in a lot of hard work and now our goal is to make a national training centre to develop our youth and grow our team.”

In the first semi-final Krasniqi defeated Cadet World Championships silver medallist Tihea Topolovec (CRO) after 38 seconds by uchi-mata. In the second semi-final London European Cup bronze medallist Chelsie Giles (GBR) lost out to Janashvili in a thrilling contest. Giles pinned the Georgian for 17 seconds with a sankaku-gatame for a waza-ari but her opponent pulled back a yuko before going in front with a waza-ari from a ura-nage, a Georgian trademark, and Janashvili held on to secure a place in the final.

The first bronze medal was won by Junior European champion Astride Gneto (FRA) as Giles received hansoku-make for four shido penalties. The young Briton was penalised for stepping out twice, a gripping infringement and passivity as Gneto could celebrate with one minute and 41 seconds left on the clock. The second bronze medal was claimed by 19-year-old three-time Junior European Cup winner Mariana Esteves (POR) who overpowered Topolovec on the ground to trap her with tate-shiho-gatame for nine seconds and the Croatian fighter tapped out.