The World Judo Tour kicked off in 2022 in Almada, Portugal, with an exciting first day in which the local judokas rose to the occasion.
Among them Catarina Costa, weighing less than 48 kilos, who once again displayed great footwork to catch the South Korean Hyekieong-lee and get the first gold medal of the year and Portugal’s first in the tournament, which makes her our woman of the day.
Jorge Fernandes, president of the Portuguese Judo Federation, was in charge of hanging Costa his well-deserved medal.
“I feel very happy”, confessed Costa, “because I was able to compete in front of my family and friends and it is the first competition of the year, so of course I am very happy to start 2022 well, and I hope to get more gold medals”.
Big day for South Korea
In less than 60 kilos, the South Korean Lee Harim defeated for his part the champion of the Grand Slam in Paris, the Azerbaijani Balabay Aghayev, with an effective morote seoi nage. Lee’s was going to be the second of the four medals won this Friday by South Korea. The director of international relations of the International Judo Federation, Juan Carlos Barcos, did the honors on the podium.
The Olympic champion of less than 48 kilos, Distria Krasniqi, won her first gold since she rose to less than 52. The Kosovar defeated the Croatian in the final Ana Viktorija Puljiz to confirm that you are more than ready for the new category. Vitor Pataco, from the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth handed over the gold to Krasniqi.
Our man of the day is the Moldovan Denis Vieru, who proved to be too much of a match for the Swiss Freddy Waizenegger. Two decisive Waza-ari were enough for Vieru to take gold in the under 66 category.
“I am happy and proud to be on the top of the podium today”, confessed Vieru. “And I will continue to amaze the public in the future with my beautiful judo.”
Raphael Silva returns to the path of victory with his seventh Grand Prix title after beating the Dutch in the final of less than 57 kilos Pleuni Cornelisse with an impressive hip throw. The Brazilian received her new medal from the president of the Portuguese Sports Confederation, Carlos Paula Cardoso.
In general, it was a great day for Portugal, which has won three medals so far with two more days of competition to go. South Korea, with four, currently leads the medal table of a Grand Prix of which there are still many things to tell.
