Ai Tsunoda wins Spain's first women's judo world title since 1997 in Baku

The final in Baku

Ai Tsunoda won the women's -70 kg world title at the championships in Baku on Thursday, beating Austria's Michaela Polleres in the final. The 24-year-old from Lleida is the daughter of a Japanese father and a French mother, according to El Periódico, and she was ranked 18th in the world in her weight class, per Europa Press. Polleres, ranked 13th, had taken the Olympic bronze from Tsunoda at the Paris 2024 Games, where a failed attack by Tsunoda let her score in just over 1 minute and 45 seconds. In Baku Tsunoda waited for her chance, and the final lasted seven minutes and 20 seconds. The sources do not agree on how it ended. Europa Press and El Periódico describe a win by the third shido penalty given to Polleres during golden score, while Ouest France reports an ippon in extra time.

Route to the final

Tsunoda beat Sudaba Aghayeva of Azerbaijan, Nika Koren of Slovenia and Sanne van Dijke of the Netherlands to reach the quarter-finals, according to Europa Press. In the repechage she beat Ingrid Nilsson of Sweden, ranked eighth in the world, after two waza-ari scores. In the semi-final she beat Aleksandra Andric of Serbia by yuko in a bout settled on golden point. Her route to the gold medal bout is set out below.

Aharón Santamaría, the other Spanish competitor on Thursday, was eliminated in the first round by Kyrgyzstan's Daniiar Melisov.

Spain's medal count

Spain's four medals in Baku are one gold, won by Tsunoda, two silvers from Ariane Toro (-54 kg) and David García Torné (-66 kg), and one bronze from Ayumi Leiva (-52 kg). Europa Press reports that Spain sits second in the medal table behind Japan, which has 10 medals, seven of them gold. Two days of individual competition remain, along with the team event on Sunday.

Form and background

Before Baku, Tsunoda's best result of the season was bronze at the Paris Grand Slam in January, and she was not seeded among the top competitors in the field. She had also narrowly missed bronze at the world championships in Budapest and at the Paris Games, and her European bronze in 2024 was her only major international medal before Thursday. Ouest France reports that she held three junior world titles before this win. Her father, Go Tsunoda, is a judo coach, and her mother, Céline Roustant, was Spanish champion in 2011. Tsunoda grew up training in the dojo her parents opened in Lleida.