True to form Martyna TRAJDOS (GER) took the gold medal in the -63kg category on the second day of competition at the Hohhot Grand Prix. Trajdos took full advantage of her position as number one seed to add a third World Tour medal to her tally for the year. There was a sufficiently testing enough entry (22 in the category) to ensure that she was adequately stretched.
Trajdos may feel as though she’d been taking part in the Asian championships given that her opponents were variously from China (2), Japan and the Republic of Korea. But the 30-year old German star gave every impression of being perfectly at home as she made her way to the final and a meeting with TANG Jing (CHN). It turned out to be a bruising encounter with both fighters picking up bumps and bruises for strong clashes. But that is the nature of the sport are there often times when physical toughness is all that separates the winner from the runner-up. And so it proved as Trajdos remained strong and resolute picking up two scores as Tang wilted under the pressure from a more determined and battle hardened opponent. It may have been the most attractive of finals, but it was the sort of challenge that Trajdos showed she was capable of winning. These wins, in difficult circumstances, are just as important the points gained.
Podium
When asked about her day Trajdos said,
Today was really good for me. I just took each fight in turn with the aim of winning. I knew the final would be difficult and that the crowd would be behind her [Tang]. I’m obviously pleased with my form and the recent training that I we [the German team] had in Japan really helped. I’m looking forward to the forthcoming European Games in Minsk and the world championships in Tokyo.
