
KONKINA submitted LEE with a juji-gatame having been a waza-ari in front as Russia made sure they would feature heavily in the final block. In the first semi-final KONKINA defeated 21-year-old former Junior Asian Championships winner LEE Hsin-Yun (TPE). The second bronze medal was won by CHEN who emphatically dismissed 17-year-old Junior Asian Cup medallist Annie LAU (HKG) after just 14 seconds with a textbook sode-tsurikomi-goshi for ippon. CHEN looked impressive as she won her country’s second medal of the competition by countering a tani-otoshi and overpowering the Russian on the ground. The first bronze medal was clinched by Taipei Asian Open winner CHEN Chin-Ying (TPE) who scored a yuko and followed up in ne-waza by freeing a leg to apply the osaekomi for 20 seconds and ippon. In the second semi-final former Orenburg European Cup bronze medallist Natalia PAVLOVA (RUS) was defeated by CHEN who guaranteed herself a home Grand Prix medal at her third attempt after winning by a yuko score. SAGITOVA pressed the action in golden score and after three a half minutes the referee had seen enough to penalise the Chinese judoka. At the end of regulation time both judoka had a shido with CHEN being penalised for dropping and SAGITOVA for not taking a grip. In the first semi-final little-known CHEN Wei (CHN) lost out to SAGITOVA in golden score by a shido for passivity. YIN, Lingling (CHN) vs LIN, Chu Yun (TPE) GUAN, Xiaoxian (CHN) vs YANG, Shuang (CHN) PERSIDSKAIA, Mariia (RUS) vs LI, Yanan (CHN) A shido for LIN handed the contest and bronze medal to the Chinese competitor as the hosts kept both -48kg bronze medals in the country. The scoreboard was all square after four minutes as both judoka had two shidos and no scores to force the contest into golden score. The second bronze medal was won by YIN over 22-year-old seoi-nage specialist LIN Chu Yun (TPE). GUAN held down YANG, who had fifth and seventh place finishes at her home Grand Prix in previous years, for a waza-ari score which proved enough as a barrage of seoi-nage attacks from YANG was too little too late. The first bronze medal contest was won by GUAN who beat teammate YANG Shuang (CHN). In the second semi-final 20-year-old IJF World Judo Tour debutant GUAN Xiaoxian (CHN) lost out to LI who prevailed by a yuko score in a traditionally tight contest between two teammates. The yuko from PERSIDSKAIA was the only score of the contest as YIN slipped down into the bronze medal contest and the former moved into the -48kg gold medal contest. In the first semi-final PERSIDSKAIA ousted YIN Lingling (CHN) by a yuko as the teenage home fighter took her opponent the full distance.
