European Judo Championships, double joy for Italy: Bellandi in silver, Tavano in bronze

Two days of absence from the podium of the European Senior Judo Championships may be enough. Who knows if this morning Alice Bellandi and Asya Tavano, as they headed into the Sud de France Arena in Montpellier, were humming like this to the tunes of Lucio Battisti. The fact is that the Italians, on this third and final day of the continental event, managed to give Italy two beautiful emotions: the first by winning the silver in the -78 kg, the second by taking the bronze in the +78 kg. Two great results that are good for the Italian morale, but above all they become fundamental for qualification for Paris 2024. Montpellier is 750 km from the French capital, but the scent of the Olympics is already in the air: thousands of fans have come from all over France to support their judokas who repaid them with 5 golds and 4 bronzes. A prelude to what could happen in 38 weeks. But be careful, even with only two podiums, Italy has shown that it can do great things…

SILVER BELLANDI

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Only Alice Bellandi missed out on the crown, but the Italian can only be defined as the queen of -78 kg. As number one in the world ranking, the Brescian lined up her opponents with extreme ease until the semi-final against the first real obstacle in her path: the German Anna-Maria Wagner. The precedents were all on the side of the 2021 world champion (3-0), but even in that case Alice closed the practice with a waza-ari which sent her directly to the final. Right there the continental dream was interrupted with the success of the German Alina Boehm who knocked down the Italian in the final seconds of the match: “Only an error of clarity and a moment of hesitation in a completely dominated match took away her greatest joy. great, which he absolutely deserved for the progress made today – these are the words of the Italian coach Francesco Bruyere -. Alice continues to demonstrate her superiority in this category and in my opinion she did it too in the final. She truly played a great European Championship: she beat the Portuguese Sampaio very well and, using her head, the difficult German Wagner in the semi-final. It’s clear that you are immensely sorry for the lost gold, but that’s how sport is. Honor to the opponent and congratulations to our super champion for the judo that she expresses and for demonstrating every time that she is always at the top”.

BRONZE TABLE

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The other Italian joy was given by Asya Tavano by winning the +78 kg bronze after an excellent run. The 21 year old from Friuli dominated the first two matches, only losing in the semi-final to the Israeli Raz Hershko, number 1 in the world ranking. Her medal final then saw her impose her judo against the Dutch Karen Stevenson, defeated by waza-ari. “Asya had an extraordinary race – concluded Bruyere -. A week ago in Abu Dhabi she fought against her potential and today I saw in her a great desire for redemption and to demonstrate her worth. She fought with heart and determination, beating very strong opponents. It’s a shame for her that she lost the semi-final against the Israeli Hershko, which we still have to measure up to, but her turn will come too. Her stupendous bronze final against the Dutchman Stevenson led her to put her second European medal around her neck at just 21 years of age. The girl works hard, is constantly growing and has above-average potential, we really believe in her.”