Heavyweight gold not a surprise for Akira Sone

Since Tokyo last year and her Olympic title, we had not seen Akira Sone (JPN) on the World Judo Tour. With her compact and dynamic judo, she left no chance for her opponents. Since then a lot of water has flowed under the bridges of the judo planet and at the top of the world now sits the Frenchwoman Romane Dicko, comfortably; world champion in Tashkent. However, Sone was not in Uzbekistan and this time it was Dicko who did not come to Japan for the Grand Slam in Tokyo. So we will wait a little longer for the ultimate contest between the two queens.

It remains no less true that it is nice to see Akira Sone at her best again. She did not disappoint her fans and qualified for the final without having to spend too much energy. The physiognomy of the medal matches was quite significant, with a 100% Japanese final and the two French women, Hayme and Fontaine, present for the bronze medal matches, while the Korean Kim slipped into the middle. This is significant because these three nations and especially Japan and France have been dominating the category for a few years already.

It is with no surprise that Akira Sone conquered a new title against her teammate Maya Akiba (JPN) and added a new line to her already rich prize list.

The two bronze medals went to Hayun Kim (KOR) and Léa Fontaine (FRA).