Kelmendi writes history, Ebinuma confirms superstar status !

Fantastic judo in Rio in categories -52kg & -66kg. It was especially a great day for Kosovo which is now entered in history books, ofcourse all credits for that goes to 2013 World Champion Majlinda Kelmendi (KOS), however an superb show was demonstrated by Mashashi Ebinuma of Japan.

Kelmendi came in Brazil as no.1 at the IJF WRL -52kg, also highly motivated as she finally won a bronze medal at the European Championships. She knew that she was made for big things and she proved it in the centre of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, in front of Brazilian supporters against Erika Miranda of Brazil. She threw Miranda by Uchi-mata by scoring herself waza-ari with great transition for osae-komi, while Miranda was still thinking about her landing on the back. We could see that this was really one of the biggest moment for Kelmendi and her coach Driton Kuka in their celebration. Great job Majlinda, great job Kosovo !

The first bronze was won by German Mareen Kraeh who surprised Andreea Chitu (ROU) after 1:15min with an uchi-mata for ippon to claim her first WCh medal. Second bronze goes to Japan, Hashimoto won the fight against Jana Sundberg (FIN).

For sure superstar of the second day was Masashi Ebinuma who already won the World title in 2011 and bronze Olympic medal from London 2012. Ebinuma defended his title against "unknown" judok a Azamat Mukanov (KAZ) in a very tight fight, full of action. Mukanov was leading against the Japanesse with waza-ari and also caugt Ebinuma in painful situation of ne-waza, where we could see grimace on Ebinuma's face. Refusing to tap, his desire for another title destroyed Mukanov with an high-class ouchi-gari.

Chibana of Brasil started to celebrate too early in his bronze medal fight which cost him at the end as his ippon was turned to waza-ari, Fukuoka (JPN) joined his teammate Ebinuma at the podium after he won against Chibana. Second bronze and his fourth medal from WCh was won by Georgii Zantaraia (UKR) against Russian Mikhail Pulyaev with a spectacular uchi-mata only one minute before soremade. Zantaraia has great result in his new category, which was also celebrated by his coach Vitaly Dubrova who is working with Zantaraia for a long time.

Photos by: IJF - Gabriela Sabau & Tamas Zahonyi