Bárbara Timo wins Bronze Medal in Budapest
This Saturday, October 24, was the second day of the Grand Slam of Hungary 2020. The Best Judokas of the World are present in the competition that marks the return of the World Judo Circuit and which ends this Sunday, October 25th.
The Hungarian capital receives a total of 407 Judokas (256 male and 151 female) over the course of the 3 days of the event, representing 61 countries. On this second day of fighting, Portugal had 3 Athletes in action:
With 20 athletes in the -70 kg category, World Vice-Champion Bárbara Timo, 4th seed, started her performance in the quarter-finals, where she won the Brazilian Maria Portela, 19th in the World Ranking, for accumulation of ‘shidos’. In the semifinal, against Croatian Barbara Matic, she was the Portuguese to commit the third ‘shido’ already in the period of ‘gold point’.
In the Finals Block, the fight against Puerto Rican Maria Perez (World Vice-Champion in 2017) proved to be balanced, but Bárbara Timo confirmed her superiority by reaching the ‘ippon’ after 6 minutes on the tatami, winning the Medal of Bronze.
In the -81 kg category, João Martinho started his journey in the second round, where he eliminated the Polish Damian Szwarnowiecki by ‘ippon’. In the round of 16, the Portuguese failed to surpass No. 8 in the World Ranking and teammate at Sporting CP, Frank de Wit, from the Netherlands. João Martinho conceded by ‘ippon’, finishing his performance in 9th place.
Anri Egutidze (-81 kg) made his debut by ‘ippon’ against Dutchman Jim Heijman. In the second round, he failed to overtake Pan-American Champion and No. 5 of the World Ranking, Antoine Valois-Fortier, from Canada, when he suffered the second ‘wazari’ and respective ‘ippon’, 40 seconds from the end of the confrontation.
We remember that on the first day of the race, Rodrigo Lopes (-60 kg) made his debut at the World Judo Circuit Podiums by winning the Bronze Medal, after beating the Hungarian David Naji, by ‘ippon’, in the decisive fight. Telma Monteiro (-57 kg) was also present at the Finals Block, but was unable to reach Bronze, when she gave in to the ‘gold point’ of a balanced confrontation with the 13th classified in the World Ranking, Timna Nelson Levy, from Israel.
The National Team present in Budapest is composed of 12 Athletes: Catarina Costa (-48 kg), Wilsa Gomes (-57 kg), Telma Monteiro (-57 kg), Bárbara Timo (-70 kg), Patrícia Sampaio (-78 kg) ), Rochele Nunes (+78 kg), Rodrigo Lopes (-60 kg), Sergiu Oleinic (-66 kg), Anri Egutidze (-81 kg), João Martinho (-81 kg), Jorge Fonseca (-100 kg) and Vasco Rompão (+100 kg), who are accompanied by Coaches Ana Hormigo, Pedro Soares and João Neto and by the physiotherapist Eduardo Pedro.
