For a long time Brigita Matic CRO has had to compete in the shadow of her older and hugely successful sister junior world champion Barbara Matic. Today the “little sister” (Brigita actually competes in a heavier weight category) won gold in the -78kg category on the final day of the individual competition at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. Matic had a bye in the first round and so began her campaign with a quarter final win over Elvismar Rodriquez VEN. The pair had faced each other once previously at the Cadet World Championships in Miami exactly one year ago. The result was the same with Matic coming out victorious. This brought about a semi-final match up for the 18 year old Croatian with the promising 2012 African Cadet Champion Unelle Snyman RSA that Matic won by ippon to set up an all-European final with 16 year old Aleksandra Samardzic BIH. The final was a close one, Samardzic conceding two shidos, Matic just the one to give the Croatian the gold.
For a full list of results see: http://www.ippon.org/yog2014.php
