“Pink power” for Italy on the tatami of the Pais Arena in Jerusalemseat of the Masters 2022, the last event of the judo World Tour of the season. The Holy City, in the past the cradle of three great religions, was the scene of never seen and heard for the local movement: one victory and two third places all signed by the girls of the Bel Paese.
Let’s start from the end, or from the success of Alice Bellandi on the last day: the 24-year-old from Brescia, in the passage of the category up to 78 kg, found the balance above the madness. A season in which the results were as follows:
- Second place in the Grand Prix Portugal.
- Third place in the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv.
- Bronze at the European Championships in Sofia.
- Victory in Grand Slam Hungary.
- Victory in the Grand Slam in Baku.
Judo, Alice Bellandi wins the Jerusalem Masters! Record edition for Italy
The Masters was what an athlete asked who jumped with this resounding success in third position in the world ranking. Bellandi, in fact, equaled what the Piedmontese Manuel Lombardo did in the men’s field in Qingdao in 2019, lining up all the best performers in the category:
- Patricia Sampaio defeated by ippon.
- Mayra Aguiar, reigning world champion, beaten by sum of penalties.
- Madeleine Malonga, Olympic silver in Tokyo, defeated for the time in a row with an ippon seoi nage.
- Audrey Tcheumeo, multiple Olympic and world medalist, defeated with a waza-ari.
Deeds and not words for a judoka who has everything to make a difference and boost her prices towards Paris. From heavyweights to light weights, there is always satisfaction and the reference is ad Assumed Scutto nei -48 kg and a Odette Giuffrida nei -52 kg.
For Susy, last year’s world champion at junior level, 2022 had already reserved bronze at the World Cup in Tashkent and speaking of a 20-year-old girl, that’s no small thing. In the “Tournament of the Masters” there was confirmation of her class, highlighted especially in the final for the third place against the formidable Kazakh Abiba Abuzhakynova, which had prevailed in the last precedent in Abu Dhabi. The young bell dominated the scene, breaking her opponent’s resistance in less than three minutes, landing a waza-ari and closing the score with a spectacular ippon. Conclusion: third step of the podium at the first Masters of his career.
He responded to Scutto’s desire to emerge the spirit of conservation of Giuffridaable to renew the appointment on the podium more than 6 years after the previous top-3 in Guadalajara 2016 and Rabat 2015. The 28-year-old Roman, twice a medalist at the Olympics, put everything she had of herself and even more than her opponents it was an injury to her left leg that limited her during the matches. Despite everything, on her way she defeated the German Mascha Ballhaus (ippon at the Golden Score) and her seasonal “bete noire” Diyora Keldiyorova (disqualified for a dangerous action), before losing not without regrets in the semifinal against the world runner-up in charge Chelsie Giles (waza-ari in osaekomi in overtime). In the match against the local darling Gefen Primo she prevailed with sheer determination after more than 5 minutes of Golden Score.
Instead, something more was expected of men. Manuel Lombardo and Giovanni Esposito they failed to express themselves as one would have hoped in the -73 kg category: Lombardo was immediately defeated by the Uzbek Obidkhon Nomonov, while Esposito had to surrender to the Kazakh Zhansay Smagulov. The performance of the reigning world vice-champion of 90 kg was also disappointing Christian Parlati, stopped in the round of 16 against the Brazilian outsider Rafael Macedo for waza-ari after 16″ of Golden Score. Step back from the point of view of the result, after the Tokyo undertaking, however Gennaro Pirelliwho left the scene in the round of 16 in the -100 kg due to the sum of penalties in a very tight challenge against the Azeri, reigning world bronze, Zelym Kotsoiev, after clearly beating the strong Georgian Giorgi Beriashvili at his debut.
Basically, a team that makes history thanks to women, but still with plenty of room for improvement. This makes us understand how blue judo with a view to the 2024 Games can aim for very ambitious goals.
Photo: IJF
