Gennaro Pirelli wins the European Judo Open in Rome. After the Paris Olympics where he put the Frenchman Teddy Riner in difficulty, the Italian judoka returns to fight at heavyweight and wins the gold medal at the expense of the Ukrainian Yevheniy Balyevskyy (30kg and 18cm taller).
A super race for the Neapolitan who normally competes in the -100Kg category and has now set the goal of qualifying for Los Angeles 2028 in two weight categories.
“I am very satisfied with my performance in this category, certainly in Paris after the meeting with Riner I became aware of my qualities and that there are no limits to what I can demonstrate in this discipline – the words of Pirelli -. The thing that What excites me most is seeing the expression of my opponents when I get on the tatami and they see me much smaller than them. Then at the end of the matches their expression is even more amazed. I spoke for a long time with my coach Enrico Parlati and we are seriously thinking of embarking on this adventure, competing in two different categories, -100 kg and heavyweight. My goal after the Grand Slam in Tokyo in December is to qualify for the 2028 Games in both categories and thus make history. of Olympic Judo”.
At the PalaPellicone in Ostia the Italian national team showed off by dominating the medal table for nations with six first places, three second and thirteen third places. Twenty-two medals in an Open, Italy had never won them before and those who put them around their necks were both expert athletes, such as Pirelli and Irene Pedrotti in the 70 kg, and younger and already winning athletes such as Leonardo Valeriani in the 73 kg, Kenny Komi Bedel in the 90 kg, Henry Owusu Asare Owusu in the 100 kg, Ilaria Finestrone in the 52 kg.
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