Croatian World Champion Barbara Matic resolved all her fights with poise, without suffering, being superior at all times. Matic defeated the Hungarian Szabina Gercsak, the German Sarah Maekelburg, the Spanish Ai Tsunoda Roustant and the Australian Aoife Coughlan. The last hurdle to make the public delirious was German and her name was Miriam Butkereit.
Butkereit won bronze in Mongolia three weeks ago and silver in Budapest, where Matic had to settle for bronze. The German is in a sweet moment and she is not one of those who gets scared on hostile ground, with a world champion in front of her and the public against her.
Matic did not want to be the typical friendly hostess who greets her guests with a smile, a few canapés and a soft drink. The Croatian scored waza-ari after twenty seconds, telling Butkereit that Zagreb is her home and that Budapest was already a long way off. Still, there was a long way to go and the German tried and scared the crowd with a powerful attack that knocked Matic off balance. The world champion held on and let time pass, but she was under pressure. The good thing for her was that she wasn’t penalised and there would have been no reason for it either. One shido arrived with a few seconds left, nothing important. Matic won and it was what the public expected of her.
Along with Matic’s gold, Croatia had the opportunity to add a new medal, bronze, in the same weight. Lara Cvjetko faced Ai Tsunoda in a very tight duel, with golden score and two penalties for each. More than scoring, both tried not to make the ultimate mistake that cost hansokumake. It was exactly what happened and the mistake was a false attack by the Spanish. Cvjetko made the day even more enjoyable for the public.
The same could happen with Venezuela, that is, another medal, thanks to Elvismar Rodríguez, who had to get Coughlan out of her way. The first has more medals and is the current Pan American and Oceania champion, but she does not have better ranking. Rodríguez is ranked 16th and the Australian is 14th. The Venezuelan scored waza-ari mid-match and was not caught by Coughlan; a good day for Venezuela with two medals.