Japanese Shishime grabs gold U52kg at GP Mongolia

Shishime Ai of Japan broke Mongolia’s resistance in the U52kg category of the Grand Prix of Mongolia as she shared the podium with three Mongolian judoka but stood the tallest on the top position.

Shishime, 21 years, conquered Tashkent Grand Prix silver medallist Adiyasambuu Tsolmon (MGL) in an exciting final between two of Asian’s top young talents in the category. Adiyasambuu, 22, who was battling to win her first Grand Prix, lost out to the Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist, by osaekomi as the young Japanese fighter eventually unwrapped her legs from her opponent to squeeze her way to the gold medal.

In the first semi-final Tbilisi Grand Prix winner Jaana Sundberg (FIN) was beaten by home judoka Adiyasambuu in golden score as a waza-ari score settled the contest 53 seconds into added time. In the second semi-final Shishime denied an all-Mongolian final by defeating Asian Championships runner-up Munkhbaatar Bundmaa (MGL). The contest was settled by shido penalties with three against the Mongolian fighter and only one against the Japanese judoka which was for passivity.

The first bronze medal was clinched by Munkhbaatar who continued the home country’s strong start by beating London 2012 Olympian Kelly Edwards (GBR) who missed out on winning the first Grand Prix medal of her career. Munkhbaatar matched her result from last year and proves to be a consistent performer in her homeland and on the World Judo Tour. The second bronze medal was won by former Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix bronze medallist Baljinnyam Bat-Erdene (MGL) against Sundberg. A single shido against the Finn sent Baljinnyam onto the podium to join two of her teammates.