Watanabe ranks 23rd in world judo

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Japanese Kiyomi Watanabe breached the Top 25 of the judo world rankings after achieving back-to-back podium finishes in tough tournaments in Europe.

Watanabe rose to No. 23 in the seniors’ women’s-63kg category in the latest ranking released by the International Judo Federation (IJF), gaining from her silver medal in last week’s European Judo Open Oberwart in Austria and the prestigious Grand Slam Paris in France the previous weekend.

The 20-year-old Watanabe placed second to Austrian Kathrin Unterwurzacher in the Oberwart meet to follow up her breakthrough bronze earlier in the Grand Slam.

Watanabe topped Pool D in Oberwart after beating Italian Francesca Busto and Austrian Magdalena Krssakova then outclassed Japanese Aimi Nouchi by ippon in the semis to advance to the gold medal match against Unterwurzacher.

But the hometown bet thwarted the Phl ace, scoring a waza ari after a minute with ko uchi gari followed up by in ne waza with tate shio gatame to cop the mint.

French Lindsay Tsang Sam Moi and Spaniard Isabel Puche took the two bronze medals behind the Austrian champ and Watanabe.

The runner-up feat in Austria came just a week after Watanabe delivered the Philippines’ first-ever medal in the IJF World Tour in Paris.

The two-time SEAG winner will seek to sustain her charge when she competed in the Dusseldorf Grand Prix this weekend.