Written by Nicolas Messner, Jo Crowley, Leandra Freitas on
07. Mar 2021
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If you were not with us on the second day of competition in Tashkent, see what you missed.
1- Uzbekistan’s Gulnoza Matniyazova made the audience
explode with joy
What an extraordinary ippon against Anka Pogacnik (SLO). We know that the Slovenian women are very resistant and their physical and tactical judo style is high-performing. Yesterday, though, Gulnoza was on fire. For sure, fighting at home gave her extra motivation, but all day she was creating beautiful judo, generous and with the desire to throw all opponents. When she couldn’t, she did everything to resist, like in the semi-final against former world champion ARAI Chizuru. The lack of experience was one of the factors that, in the end, offered the Japanese judoka the possibility to continue on her way to the final. Nevertheless, Matniyazova made history by being the first female athlete to win a grand slam medal at home for Uzbekistan. This can inspire young girls to get more involved in judo, utilising the Judo in Schools’ programme and being part of this educational sport. Women’s judo exists in Uzbekistan and this is just the beginning.