2024 Olympic Champion Diyora Keldiyorova (UZB) has finally returned to competition after more than two years away.
She just won the 2026 Aktau Asian Open. She threw her first opponent Nurailym Sarsenbek (KAZ) with drop sode for yuko. Then she did another drop sode which failed but it gave her an opening to do juji-gatame, for which she secured an ippon.
Next, for her semifinal, she defeated Gulkhan Shynggyskhan (KAZ) with almost the same playbook. First, she threw her with drop sode for yuko. But this time, she immediately clamped on a juji-gatame for ippon.
In the final, she threw Farida Mirzayeva (AZE) with ouchi-gari for yuko. Then she threw her with drop sode for waza-ari followed up immediately with a hold-down for waza-ari-awasete-ippon.
This was not a very high-level competition but it was a good way for Keldiyorova to get her feet wet for international competition after being away for so long.
