It was a golden opening day at the Tel Aviv Grand Slam as Chelsie Giles (Coventry Judo Club; Simon
Moss) secured her second gold medal of the year as she topped the podium in Israel.
Following an opening-round bye, number one seed Giles defeated Ariane Toro-Soler (ESP) in the
second round. Giles registered a throw for waza-ari score before transitioning into an osaekomi
hold-down for a second waza-ari score to progress to the quarter-finals.
Giles won the Pool with a quarter-final victory against Aleksandra Kaleta (POL). Giles registered an
ippon score in the closing 10 seconds of the contest following a great change of direction to throw
her opponent.
In a closely contested semi-final battle with Olympic silver (Rio 2016) and bronze (Tokyo 2020)
medallist Odette Giuffrida (ITA), Giles emerged victorious as the contest entered Golden Score. An
ippon score seeing her progress to the final.
Giles faced Ana Perez-Box (ESP) in the final, a judoka she recently defeated at the Portugal Grand
Prix last month.
As the contest hit the midway point, Giles capitalised on a Perez-Box attack with some great newaza
that forced her opponent to tap out, handing the Brit her second career Grand Slam gold medal in
the same venue as her first following her gold medal at the 2021 Tel Aviv Grand Slam.
