JUDO: Miranda Giambelli has secured Australia’s only fight victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in the UAE.
Competing in the under 78kg division, the 23-year-old defeated China’s Zhehui Zhang by Waza-ari.
She then went the full four minutes with the Netherlands Guusje Steenhuis but went down after committing two shido penalties.
In the under 52kg division Hannah Trotter gave up three Shido penalties to South Korea’s Mi-Ri Kim before losing by ippon after four minutes.
Under 63kg fighter Katharina Haecker went down to the Netherlands Anicka Van Emden after conceding four shido penalties.
Aoife Coughlan was also unsuccessful after she suffered defeat to South Korea’s Seongyeon Kim by yuko in her under 70kg fight.
In the men’s events both Australian fighters in the under 81kg category were knocked out of the competition in their first fight.
Jordan Kouros lost by ippon to Portugal’s Diogo Lima and Eoin Coughlan suffered the same fate against Puerto Rico’s Gadiel Miranda.
In the under 90kg division Diego Barreto committed four shido penalties to bow out while Sebastian Temesi lost by ippon to South Korea’s by Jae Yun Kim.
Duke Didier lasted 1:12 before losing by ippon to Croatia’s Zlatko Kumric.
Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au