Malonga benefits with gold in sloppy final of Tcheumeo

For the third day in a row, team France put its two athletes in the final as Audrey Tcheumeo and Madeleine Malonga both qualified to fight for the gold medal U78kg at the Grand Prix in Samsun. Tcheumeo had two pretty easy first rounds as she successively defeated Park Yujin (KOR) and Marta Tort Merino (ESP) in less than thirty seconds.

In the semi-final she was opposed to the Cameroon Hortense Vanessa Mballa Atangana and she actually had to wait until the end to win by a single yuko and two penalties. Malonga’s way to the final was a little tougher but the young athlete perfectly controlled all her opponents to face a famous elder at the end of the day.

As usual Audrey Tcheumeo started by putting a lot of pressure on her opponent who had to concede a first waza-ari with a well-executed sumi-gaeshi. But within a few seconds Tcheumeo was penalised three times for the wrong grip and for stepping outside of the fighting area. When the former world champion got penalised a fourth time for escaping from Malonga’s grip, her waza-ari advantage just vanished giving the victory to her young teammate.

The first bronze medal fight saw the winner of the last Casablanca African Open, Marta Tort Merino (ESP) and Yahima Ramirez (POR), who finished at the bottom of the podium on the occasion of the last World Championships in Chelyabinsk, facing for a place on the podium. Ramirez was the first to be penalised for a wrong grip with a shido. Then both athletes were penalised for passivity. Less than a minute to go and both competitors again were penalised with a shido: 2 for Tort Merino, 3 for Ramirez and 18 seconds before the final gong, as the two protagonists were penalised again, the Portuguese was disqualified (4 shido) offering her first Grand Prix medal to Marta Tort Merino.

The 2013 world champion, Sol Kyong (PRK), was present today in Samsun, seeking for more points for her Olympic qualification, but she was defeated by Ramirez in quarterfinal. She finally entered the final block to be opposed to Hortence Vanessa Mballa Atangana (CMR) in the bronze medal fight. Mballa Atangana started the fight by immediately imposing a high rhythm, but the experienced Sol tool advantage of the situation to score a first waza-ari before both athlete got penalised with a shido, one for passivity, the other for incorrect attack. The second strong attack of the former world champion gave her the opportunity to score a second waza-ari for a third Grand Prix medal here in Samsun.