Pool A: Trstenjak (SLO)
Trstenjak won her first bout, against Edwige Gwend (ITA), with two shidos. No big throws but a win is a win. That brought her up against Yang Junxia (CHN), whom she pinned for ippon. This was no mean feat as the Chinese player is a good newaza fighter. But Trstenjak is a fully-capable ground fighter as well, as she would demonstrate further later in the day.
Pool B: Silva (BRA)
This pool supposed to have belonged to Gerbi (ISR) but she had trouble from her very first bout when Maricet Espinosa (CUB) used a hip technique to score yuko. The Cuban however, made the mistake of going on the defensive too early. That gave Gerbi the chance to do her techniques and she eventually threw Espinosa with osoto-gari for waza-ari and then pin her for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Gerbi managed to salvage that one but things went south for Gerbi when she came up against home favourite, Mariana Silva (BRA), who dragged Gerbi into Golden Score. There, Silva woul not be stopped and a flurry of attacks culminated in a drop technique that scored yuko.
Pool C: Agbegnenou (FRA)
Agbegnenou (FRA) fought well in her first match, throwing Busra Katipoglu (TUR) for yuko and then proceeding to pin her for ippon. She looked set to defeat Anicka Van Emden (NED) through a yuko score from soto-makikomi. But in the in the dying seconds, Van Emden's did a desperate hip technique that gave Agbegnenou the chance to throw her with ura-nage for ippon.
Pool D: Tashiro (JPN)
Miku Tashiro (JPN), an ashi-waza expert, handily beat her first opponent, Katherina Haecker (AUS) with three kosoto-garis, scoring waza-ari, yuko and ippon respectively. Her next opponent was Kathrin Unterwurzacher (AUT) who gave her a harder fight. Tashiro relied on her feet again throwing the Austrian with kosoto-gari for yuko.
Repecharge
In the first repecharge bout, Gerbi, well-known for her throwing power, beat China's Yang with soto-makikomi for waza-ari. In the other reperchage match, Van Emden scraped through with a yuko win through her special seoi-nage/ouchi-gari hybrid that landed Unterwurzacher on her side.
Semi-Finals
Trstenjak dashed the hopes of the home crowd for a Brazilian finalist when she threw Silva with a drop seoi-nage for yuko. She then pinned Brazilian for ippon. The Tashiro-Agbegnenou semi-final was a hard battle that was decided by a shido, incurred by the Japanese player when she stepped outside the mat area.
Bronze
With Gerbi and Tashiro both capable of big throws, their bronze medal match promised to be an exciting one and they didn't disappoint. Tashiro attacked first with an uchimata that had Gerbi up in the air but the Israeli player managed to ride it. Gerbi returned fire with a hip throw that scored yuko. Tashiro then tried uchimata again but this time Gerbi managed to counter it for waza-ari. And all this action happened within the first minute! Gerbi then switched gears and fought a tactical and defensive game for the remaining three minutes. She incurred three shidos in the process but managed to ride the time out and claim her bronze. The Brazilian supporters were hoping for another medal in the second bronze match but their hopes were dashed when Silva got caught with Van Emden's special drop-seoi-nage/ouchi-gari hybrid which scored yuko.
Day 4: Women's -63kg
There were 26 players in the women's -63kg category which saw top players like Tina Trstenjak (SLO), Yarden Gerbi (ISR) and Clarisse Agbegnenou (FRA) competing. It promised to be an exciting contest as all three top players were World Champions and there was no single overwhelmingly dominant player in this category. The fans were in for a treat.