Klimkait claims bronze at Grand Slam Hungary
Jessica Klimkait won the bronze medal in the under 57kg category at the Judo Grand Slam Hungary in Budapest.
The reigning World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist — who is currently ranked second in the world — took to the mat against Cuba’s Arnaes Odelin Garcia in the final for the bronze medal. About 1 minute 35 seconds into four minutes of regulation time, Klimkait completed a throw which was first credited with a waza-ari, hence a point. The fight resumed, but the review of the throw allowed the Canadian to be awarded an ippon which ended the fight.
READ: Klimkait wins gold and Olympic ticket at World Judo Championships
READ: Klimkait becomes Canada’s first female Olympic judo medallist
Benefiting from a first-round bye, Klimkait beat Hungary’s Kitti Kovacs by waza-ari in the second round, before losing her quarter-final bout to eventual gold medallist Haruka Funakubo of Japan by ippon.
Klimkait quickly recovered for her semi-final match to defeat Belgium’s Mina Libeer by ippon in repechage during a 50-second fight to punch her ticket to the bronze medal match.
This is the tenth Grand Slam medal for Klimkait — earlier this year in April she won gold at the Antalya Grand Slam.
The Hungarian Judo Grand Slam continues until Sunday. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard will be in action tomorrow in the under 63kg category, while Mohab El Nahas and François Gauthier-Drapeau will fight in the under 81kg category.
