For this last day of karate at the Olympics, the + 61kg opened the ball. The preliminary round show the density and the high level of this category. The -68 kg world champion, Irina Zaretska, qualified for the ½ finals and appeared very fit, only defeated by the Kazakh Berultseva, who accompanies her in ½ finals. They will fight the Egyptian Abdelaziz and the Chinese Gong who extricated themselves from a group with a knife drawn.
By Florian Fournier
Whether it was Pool A or Pool B, it was difficult to qualify, especially in the second one. In Pool A, adopted Azerbaijani Irina Zaretska ranks 1st and is seen as the favorite for the supreme title. Despite her loss on the edge against Berultseva, Zaretska shows a very high level. 2nd in the pool, the young Kazakh (20 years old), Sofya Berultseva, owes nothing to anyone. A draw against the European champion, the Turkish Hocaoglu, wins against Zaretska and Semeraro and there she is in the ½ final.
At home, Uekusa is surprised in her 1st fight by Semeraro. A loss that costs her the qualification. Conceding an ippon because of inattention on the sweep, the Japanese then lost to Zaretska before waking up too late with 2 wins.
In Pool B, we had to wait the very last fights. While Algerian Lamya Matoub was unable to take part in the qualifying race after her 3 losses, the other girls hold onto a pocket handkerchief. And, in the calculator game, Abdelaziz and Gong qualify. Quirici who had however as many points as the other two (5) ranks 3rd because the Chinese scored more points (13 against 10 for the Swiss).
To be noticed, the two spectacular fights Hocaoglu vs Semeraro and Abdelaziz vs Hamideh. Between sweeping and kicking to the head, it rained ippon on the Nippon budokan.
½ finals
Iryna Zaretska (Aze) vs Li Gong (Chn)
Sofya Berultseva (Kaz) vs Feryal Abdelaziz (Egy)
Pool A
Ranking
1.Iryna Zaretska (Aze), 6 points
2.Sofya Berultseva (Kaz), 5 points
3.Silvia Semeraro (Ita), 4 points
4.Ayumi Uekusa (Jap), 4 points
5.Meltem Hocaoglu (Tur), 1 point
Fights
Silvia Semeraro (Ita) b. Ayumi Uekusa (Jap), 4-3
Meltem Hocaoglu (Tur) b. Sofya Berultseva (Kaz), 5-5
Iryna Zaretska (Aze) b. Ayumi Uekusa (Jap), 4-1
Sofya Berultseva (Kaz) b. Silvia Semeraro (Ita), 5-1
Ayumi Uekusa (Jap) b. Meltem Hocaoglu (Tur), 5-4
Iryna Zaretska (Aze) b. Silvia Semeraro (Ita), 3-2
Sofya Berultseva (Kaz) b. Iryna Zaretska (Aze), 5-4
Silvia Semeraro (Ita) b. Meltem Hocaoglu (Tur), 9-4
Ayumi Uekusa (Jap) b. Sofya Berultseva (Kaz), 5-1
Iryna Zaretska (Aze) b. Meltem Hocaoglu (Tur), 4-0
Pool B
Ranking
1.Feryal Abdelaziz (Egy), 5 points
2.Li Gong (Chi), 5 points
3.Elena Quirici (Sui), 5 points
4.Hamideh Abbasali (Ira), 4 points
5.Lamya Matoub (Alg), 1 point
Fights
Elena Quirici (Sui) b. Lamya Matoub (Alg), 2-1
Feryal Abdelaziz (Egy) b. Li Gong (Chi), 4-0
Hamideh Abbasali (Ira) b. Lamya Matoub (Alg), 4-0
Feryal Abdelaziz (Egy) b. Elena Quirici (Sui), 3-3
Li Gong (Chi) b. Lamya Matoub (Alg), 4-0
Elena Quirici (Sui) b. Hamideh Abbasali (Ira), 4-0
Hamideh Abbasali (Ira) b. Feryal Abdelaziz (Egy), 9-7
Elena Quirici (Sui) vs Li Gong (Chi), 1-1
Lamya Matoub (Alg) vs Feryal Abdelaziz (Egy), 0-0
Li Gong (Chi) b. Hamideh Abbasali (Ira), 8-4
