Ami Kondo had every reason to want to overcome rival Haruna Asami in the recent Grand Slam Tokyo judo tournament.
In a battle between former world champions, the 20-year-old Kondo came from behind to beat Asami by ippon in the final of the women’s 48-kilogram division at the Grand Slam event on Friday.
It was Kondo’s third straight title at the tournament, and her second consecutive triumph over the 27-year-old Asami in the final. With the head-to-head victory over her rival, Kondo moved a step ahead in a fierce competition to seize the division’s one and only ticket to next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
However, after the victory, Kondo stressed the battle for the right to compete at the Rio Games did not cross her mind during the tournament.
“The only thing I thought about was winning [this competition], not whether I would be able to take part in the Olympics,” Kondo said through tears of joy.
Her teardrops were a vivid indication of just how much she has struggled this year. Kondo lost in two international tournaments in February and May, suffering first-match defeats in both. At the All-Japan invitational weight class championships in April, Asami beat her in the final.
Kondo barely managed to secure the division’s second spot on Japan’s team to the World Championships in August, entering Astana in Kazakhstan as the defending champion. She ended up with a bronze medal there, while Asami took the silver.
As has become typical in battles between Asami and Kondo, Friday’s final turned into a relentless struggle. With just 36 seconds to go, Kondo was hit with a shido caution, allowing Asami to take the lead. Kondo, though, did not give up, throwing Asami with an osotogari leg lock to score a waza-ari. She then pinned Asami to the mat, earning another waza-ari for ippon.
Hitting a wall
Kondo moved into the spotlight at the World Championships in August last year. Just five months after graduating from high school, the young judoka defeated defending champion and then world No. 1 Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia en route to capturing her first world title.
Her aggressive style of judo drew praise — she never received a shido caution, given when becoming too passive, during her five matches at the competition.
Kondo marched on to grab the World Junior Championships title in October and completing back-to-back victories at the Grand Slam Tokyo, taking down Asami in the final.
But this year, Kondo’s offensive judo has seemed to disappear when she’s on the mat. Ahead of the World Championships in August, she made a fainthearted remark, saying, “The fear of losing has begun to cross my mind [during matches].”
After ending up third in Astana, she wept, saying: “It’s tough to be the target of other judoka. Maybe the red bib [given to the defending world champion] was too much for me to bear.”
Kondo’s comeback at the Grand Slam Tokyo suggests the competition against Asami for the Rio Games will be even tougher in a division once dominated by two-time Olympic champion Ryoko Tani.
Both Kondo and Asami have strong backing — Kondo is coached by Masae Ueno, who won back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the 70-kilogram class in 2004 and 2008, while Asami’s coach is Ayumi Tanimoto, who also won two titles at the same Games in the 63-kilogram division.
“The situation has become tough, but I’m not giving up on representing Japan [at Rio],” said Asami after her loss to Kondo in the final in Tokyo.
Kondo is not going to let her guard down. In August, she talked about the rivalry with Asami, saying, “I know I’m inferior experience-wise, but I’m never willing to back down.”
Courtesy of: The Japan News