Pool A: Jeong (KOR)
Munkhbat, a groundwork specialist, defeated her first opponent, Laetitia Payet (FRA) with juji-gatame for ippon. Then, disaster struck in her next match when she got hansoku-make for grabbing below the belt while trying to stop Jeong Bokyeong's drop seoi-nage. And with that, the former world champion was out. Jeong had earlier thrown Ngoc Tu Van (VIE) with a side takedown, and then pinned her for yuko before armlocking her for ippon.
Pool B: Alvarez (CUB)
Defending Olympic Champion Menezes threw Charline Van Snick (BEL) for yuko twice, firstly with harai-goshi, then with drop seoi-nage. Her opening match thrilled the home crowd, but their excitement was extinguished when she was defeated by Dayaris Mestre Alvarez (CUB) by a shido penalty. Alvarez had some difficulty earlier with Asaramanitra Ratiarison (MAD) in the first round and had to rely on penalties for the win. She did much better against Julia Figueroa (ESP) using a drop hip technique that rolled her opponent over for waza-ari and then followed that up with an ouchi-gari for yuko.
Pool C: Pareto (ARG)
2015 World Champion Pareto showed her class by throwing Irina Dolgova (RUS) with a low drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for ippon. She then beat 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist Eva Csernoviczki (HUN) with a drop seoi-nage for waza-ari. The Hungarian player had badly injured her leg and could not fight properly.
Pool D: Kondo (JPN)
Former World Champion Kondo had a surprisingly difficult time against Edna Carrillo (MEX) and was ahead by only a shido when she managed to lock on a pin for ippon in the dying seconds of the match. Then, she nearly lost her second match, against Otgonsetseg Galbadrakh (KAZ), who was ahead by a waza-ari, when in the last minute Kondo decided to engage in newaza and ended up pinning her for ippon.
Repecharge
In the first repecharge match, Munkhbat, a newaza expert, successfully straightened Menezes's arm in the dying seconds of the match but the Brazilian held on to take the match into Golden Score. There, Munkhbat again went after the Brazilian's arm and after an excruciating struggle, Menezes had no choice but to tap. The Brazilian held out for as long as she could and it looked like her arm was broken or at least dislocated. In the second repechage, Galbadrakh smashed Csernoviczki with a humongous ura-nage for ippon.
Semi-Finals
In the first semi-final, Jeong scored against Alvarez with a low sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for waza-ari and then ippon through a smoothly-executed side takedown. She is truly a master at this technique. In the second semi-final, Pareto scored against Kondo early in their match, with a drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi that rolled the Japanese player on her back for waza-ari. Pareto then fought a strategic fight for the rest of the match, and won.
Bronze
Munkhbat's bronze medal match against Kondo was a real tactical one with a lot of grip fighting exchanges between these two former World Champions. Kondo however, managed to eke out a yuko score with osoto-gari. Although only the top half of the Mongolian's body landed on the side, under IJF rules this is sufficient for a yuko. In the other bronze medal match, Galbadrakh used her trademark ura-nage to smash Alvarez to the mat. It was a massive ippon that the crowd appreciated. It was also vindication for Galbadrakh, formerly from Mongolia but who switched to Kazakhstan in August 2015 as Mongolia already had an Olympic candidate in the form of Munkhbat. Galbadrakh had her Olympic qualification points set back to zero and she had to build up them up from scratch by taking part in many competitions in the IJF circuit.
Day 1: Women's -48kg
A total of 23 players took part in the Women's -48kg category. The top favorites were Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL), Sarah Menezes (BRA), Paula Pareto (ARG) and Ami Kondo (JPN).