Host nation Azerbaijan leads medal table at the IJF Judo Grand Prix
On Saturday was the first day of the IJF Judo Grand Prix, Baku 2012, which was held at the Sarhadchi Sport Olympic Center in the outskirt of Baku, in the presence of several high representatives of the IJF and of Azerbaijan.
Due to the end of the Olympic qualification process, which ended last week after the last continental championships, the level of participation was logically expected to be a little less high than last year's first edition of the Judo Grand Prix in Baku. Nevertheless, the judo that was proposed to a numerous and enthusiastic public was definitely very attractive. As an illustration of this, it must be noted that during the preliminaries, almost 70% of the men's fights were concluded by ippon, whereas the ippon's rate raised up to more than 80% for the women.
As Mr. Vladimir BARTA explained: "it is interesting to see how the countries that are present here in Azerbaijan, used this year's edition of the tournament to test their new generation of fighters. We will probably see most of them again during our next IJF World Judo Tour events and that is a very good sign of the good health of our sport at the international level". Even if the points that were attributed today in Baku do not count for the Olympic qualification anymore, they still count for the IJF World Ranking List and the ranking may be significantly modified in some weight categories after today's results. Actually there will not be any major changes for the top ranked athletes, but many competitors, who were fighting today, will make an important leap forward in the World Ranking List.
The final of the women's -48kg opposed Ebru SAHIN (TUR) and Vafa EYVAZAOVA (AZE). The Under 20 European Champion, Ebru SAHIN, launched the first strong attacks, but without success. In the end Sahin won by ippon with a precise strangulation.
Nothing could stop the Japanese, Nodoka TANIMOTO U52kg, until the final, where she faced Gulshan NAZAROVA from Azerbaijan. Earlier during the competition, Turane SEYIDI won the first medal for the host country of the Grand Prix, a bronze medal, widely celebrated by the packed crowed of the Sarhadchi arena. In the final, the first strong attack (ko-udhi-gari) was launched by the Japanese, but as a test and she didn't score. The second attack, again in a backward direction, after only 39 seconds, was a huge o-soto-gari, coming from far away but ending with a perfect ippon.
The semi-final U57kg, gave the opportunity to Kifayat GASIMOVA to confirm her top ranked position, with a 12th position at the World Ranking List. The final was the shortest of the day. After only 15 seconds, GASIMOVA, who did not seem to feel really well all day long, begun to rotate faster and faster and threw the Canadian Melancon on her back with a traditional but powerful sasae-tsurikomi-ashi.
