The countdown continues towards Grand Slam di Antalya 2022fourth seasonal appointment of World Tour of judo scheduled from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd April on the mats of the Antalya Sport Hall. Waiting for the first day of meetings, scheduled for tomorrow, the usual ceremony of draw of all the scoreboards of the event. So let’s go and discover the opponents of the Italian judoka (16 in all) engaged in the Turkish three-day.
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In the 48 kg Sofia Petitto he will enter the competition in the first round against the German expert Katharina Menz and then possibly face the Serbian seeded Milica Nikolic in the second round as an underdog. I walk on the card quite easy in the 52 kg at least up to the quarters for the blue star Odette Giuffrida (n.6 of the seeding), who at that point could cross the strong Swiss Fabienne Kocher (n.4 in the world) and to follow in the semifinals the British Chelsie Giles (n.3 in the ranking). In the same category but on the opposite side of the board, the 17 year old Giulia Carnà it will make its all-time debut upstairs against the affordable Romanian Cleonia Riciu before entering a collision course with the fearsome Israeli Gefen Primo.
In the 57 kg Miriam Boi will fight as an underdog in the first round with the rising star French Faiza Mokdar, exactly like the rookie Irene Pedrotti in the 70 kg against the Dutch Hilde Jager (in case of victory he would have the n.1 of the seeding in the second round). Nightmare draw in the 78 kg for Alice Bellandi, called to defeat the unknown Kazakh Bissembay before facing the round of 16 with the phenomenal French Madeleine Malonga, Olympic and world vice-champion in office.
Judo, Grand Slam Antalya 2022: the squad of Italy. 16 blues in the race, Lombardo’s debut in 73 kg
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I immediately walk uphill in the 60 kg per Angelo Pantano (in the Pool dominated by the n.1 of the world ranking), paired with the top seed n.8 Nurillaev with a possible second round against the young emerging Azerbaijani Bayramov. Debut match decidedly easier in the 66 kg per Elios Manzi and Mattia Miceliwhich, however, will have to rise in blows later respectively against the Spaniard Gaitero Martin (# 5 of the seeding) and the Brazilian Lima (# 7).
Path free of major obstacles on the card up to the eighths for Manuel Lombardo at his first appearance in his new -73 kg category, but at that point there is the risk of an extremely challenging confrontation with Canadian Margelidon (5th in Tokyo 2021). Later the most dangerous opponents on the way to the final would be the Bulgarian Hristov and in the semifinal one between the Brazilian Cargnin and the Tajik Makhmadbekov.
Complex pairing in the -81 kg debut for Giacomo Gamba with the German Gramkow, while the re-entrant Antonio Esposito could work his way up to a probable eighth-final, very intriguing against the multi-titled Mongolian Saeid Mollaei. Quarter-final goal far from impossible in the 90 kg for both Nicholas Mungai that for Christian Parlati, even if the native of Pistoia at that point would probably be faced with the Hungarian phenomenon Toth.
First round in the 100 kg for the twenty-one year old Enrico Bergamelli, called to an important performance to get the better of the Croatian Kumric, while Lorenzo Agro Sylvain he will start as favorite against the Romanian Croitoru waiting to eventually challenge the Azerbaijani Kokauri, 2nd at the last Grand Slam in Paris, to the second round.
Photo: IJF
