Alice Bellandi is growing and an outsider for a surprise in Tashkent

The third time has proven to be a charm for Alice Bellandi, who had already twice came very close to getting an IJF gold (she got silver in the 2019 Tel Aviv Grand Prix, and earlier this year at the Portugal Grand Prix).

In Hungary, she proved herself to be a superb technical and tactical player. In her first match, against Liu Yi (CHN), she showed she is capable of throwing to the right and to the left with equal facility. First, she threw her Chinese opponent to the right with a sleeve drop seoi-nage for waza-ari. Then, she threw her to the left with the exact same technique, except this time for ippon.

Her next opponent was former World Champion Shori Hamada, arguably the best newaza player in world judo today. Unlike many Japanese newaza specialists who tend to focus on hold-downs, Hamada is capable of chokes and armlocks as well, and tried all three on Bellandi, who had managed to score a waza-ari with osoto-gari.

Hamada’s attempt at a choke failed because Bellandi’s lapel was across her face. An armlock attempt also failed when Bellandi was able to stand up. The closest Hamada came to winning in groundwork was when she pinned Bellandi for a few seconds but the Italian player was too strong and she managed to get out of the pin. Hamada proceeded to try to turn her over but couldn’t. This is a rarity. Very few players survive an extended newaza encounter with Hamada.

Bellandi didn’t have it easy. After her upset victory over Hamada, she had to face Brazil’s double World Champion Mayra Aguiar. Their’s was a tactical match and a battle of grips. Both were penalized twice each for gripping violations. First shido went out to both of them for engaging in a double sleeve grip without attacking. Then both were given a second shido for refusing to grip up. This took them into Golden Score. After Bellandi put in two successive drop attacks without a response from Aguiar, the referee gave the Brazilian a third shido.

The final match, against Inbar Lanir (ISR) was also a tactical match. Both got shido for refusing to grip up. Bellandi put in enough attacks to avoid further penalties while Lanir got two more shidos for non-combativity. This gave Bellandi her first IJF gold medal.