Aiko Sato

Aiko Satō ( Japanese 佐藤 愛 子 Satō Aiko ; born October 18, 1983 in Nayoro ) is a former Japanese judoka . She was world champion in 2011 and third in the 2007 world championship.

Athletic career

Aiko Satō fought until 2004 in the half-light weight, the weight class up to 52 kilograms. In 2000 she won a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships, in 2001 she was runner-up in the Junior Asian Championships, and in 2002 she won the Junior World Championships. At the end of 2002 she won the Fukuoka Cup . At the Asian Championships in Jeju in 2003, she finished second behind the South Korean Kim Kyung-ok . At the end of 2003 she won the Fukuoka Cup for the second time.

From 2005 Aiko Satō fought in the lightweight, the weight class up to 57 kilograms. At the end of 2005 she won the Kodokan Cup in Chiba and then the Fukuoka Cup. At the Asian Games in Doha in 2006, she lost to the Chinese Xu Yan in the final . The two faced each other again in the final of the Asian Championships 2007, this time Aiko Satō won. At the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Aiko Satō was defeated by the North Korean Kye Sun-hui in the semifinals, in the battle for bronze she defeated the Italian Giulia Quintavalle . In 2007 the Fukuoka Cup was no longer held; for the first time and the last time, women's competitions were on the program at the Jigoro Kano Cup ; Aiko Satō won the lightweight, where she defeated the Mongolin Chischigbatyn Erdenet-Od in the final. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Satō lost to the Chinese Xu Yan in the quarter-finals. After a loss in the round of hope against the Brazilian Ketleyn Quadros , Aiko Satō finished seventh overall.

2010 Aiko Satō won the East Asian Championships. In 2011 she reached the final at the Grand Slam tournament in Paris and was defeated by the Frenchwoman Automne Pavia . Two months later she won the Asian Championships in Abu Dhabi. In May 2011 she won the Grand Slam tournament in Moscow . At the World Championships in Paris she defeated the Romanian Corina Stefan in the quarter-finals and her compatriot Kaori Matsumoto in the semifinals ; she won the world title against the Brazilian Rafaela Silva . At the end of 2011, she lost to Kaori Matsumoto in the final of the Grand Slam tournament in Tokyo . In early 2012, she lost in the final of the Grand Slam in Paris against the Portuguese Telma Monteiro . It was Aiko Sato's last major tournament.

Web links

• Aiko Satō in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Tournament results at judoinside.com

Footnotes

1. ↑ Asian Championships 2003 at judoinside.com
2. ↑ Jigoro Kano Cup 2007 at judoinside.com