Judo, Bellandi and Parlati d’Argento in the Grand Prix in Almada

Good first! With the two silver medals placed around the neck of Alice Bellandi in the 78 kg and Christian Parlati in the 90 kg and the fifth place of Angelo Pantano in the 60 kg, the Grand Prix in Almada, the first awaited post-Olympic exit, gave emotions and concrete satisfactions to its protagonists and to Italian judo.

New rankings

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Grit, endurance, intuition, made our competitions shine in a tournament of the IJF circuit that has started to move the world rankings and which, at this point, see Angelo Pantano in 33rd place in the 60 kg with 1104 points, while Alice Bellandi and Christian Parlati both earned 490 points which are first for them in 78 and 90 kg, and place them in 45th and 65th place respectively. It is undoubtedly a good start and even if these scores will be reduced in 12 months (50%) and reset to zero in 24 months, it is from today that they lay the foundations of a path and facilitate the opportunities to reach the Paris 2024 target. “I think this medal is a good start – confirmed Alice Bellandi – I’m happy to have felt good in this new category even if obviously I wanted the gold medal! It will be for the next one “. Bellandi’s race in Aldama was excellent, a tiring victory over the Portuguese quoted Patricia Sampaio and then of authority over the Israeli Inbar Lanir and the South Korean Lee Jeongyun, while in the final she was overtaken by the other Korean Yoon Hyunji.

The silver of Parlati

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Excellent also the race of Christian Parlati, who flew to the final with the victories over the Congolese Jean Bava Tsikoumina-Wakou, the Hungarian Roland Goz, the Moldovan Iurie Mocanu and the tajiko Komronshokh Ustopiriyon, eleventh in the ranking. The final was instead won by the Dutch Jesper Smink. “It’s the return match from the Olympics – commented Christian – I wanted to fight and I’m happy to have had several matches. The final could have been better: a mistake cost me the gold medal, but it’s only a matter of time. Now I remain focused for the Grand Slam in Paris (in six days) ”. “It was a very special emotion for me – said Enrico Parlati, Christian’s coach and brother – my brother and I are one, we live in symbiosis and following him in the race leaves me something inexplicable, beyond how it goes. to finish. Watching it is always a sight for any judo fan. Having said that, sorry for the final, but after 5 months without competitions and in a new category a small drop in attention can also be there and probably leaves the right anger to aim higher and higher! However, I congratulate all the athletes in the race who deserve an applause just to withstand the stress of these races with these rigid Covid protocols “.

All results

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The victories of Angelo Pantano in 60 kg over Adam Jazan (Isr), David Naji (Hun) and the Mongolian Sumiyabazar are also excellent, for a fifth place that pays for a mistake not his, and a good impression was also given by Advanced Asia and Miriam Boi who got the seventh place respectively in 48 and 57 kg. But Angelo Pantano’s race ended with an award ceremony, the one that was reserved for him for the most appreciated ippon in the IJF 2021 competition, together with the Kosovar Distria Krasniqi, as the best athlete. “Alice’s more than positive race – said the coach Antonio Ciano – who proved to be able to compete with everyone in the new category, sorry for the final because I think she supported the Korean game based on kumi kata (the holds), but how first exit we are satisfied. Considerations shared with Salvatore Ferro, of great support from the stands. Thanks to the Fiamme Gialle staff who allowed us to be here ”.