Belarusian Anastasia Guchok, who became European champion in 2013, defeated Russian Maria Lyulkova and Japanese Kharuka Sato (under 60kg), on her way to the semi-final, followed by highly experienced Russian Zhargalma Tsyrenova, after a stubborn fight. In her final duel, Anastasia faced Russia’s Svetlana Lipatova: her rival from the first round of last year’s Yarygin tournament, which led to her clear victory.
The tournament, honouring double Olympic champion Ivan Yarygin, also saw good performances from Belarus’ Nadezhda Shushko and Irina Kurochkina (53kg) — who competed for bronze. In preliminary matches, Shushko defeated Russian Lubov Salnikova and Stalvira Orshush but lost in the semi-final to the ultimate winner, Russian Olga Khoroshavtseva. The latter also defeated Kurochkina, at an early stage.
By Igor Grishin
