Judo: Uta Abe rampages in comeback to win Tashkent Grand Slam title
March 6, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
Uta Abe. (Kyodo)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's Tokyo Olympic team member Uta Abe ended a 13-month layoff by winning the Tashkent Grand Slam's women's 52-kilogram division championship on Friday.
Abe, who last competed in February 2020, won three-straight bouts by ippon starting from the second round, before her opponent in the final, Mongolia's Sosorbaram Lkhagvasuren, withdrew.
Japan's Ryuju Nagayama won the men's 60-kg, defeating former world champion Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan in the final, while Natsumi Tsunoda was runner-up in the women's 48-kg, losing by ippon to former world champ Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia.