European Judo, Bellandi and Tavano bronze: Italy closes with 4 medals

The third and final day of the European Judo Championships was significant for Italy. In Sofia, Bulgaria, Alice Bellandi (78 kg) and Asya Tavano (+78 kg) conquer two bronzes which, added to that of Elios Manzi (66 kg) and the silver of Giovanni Esposito (73 kg), carry the medal collection blue at 4: a number that had not been counted at European level since 2004, when in Bucharest Francesco Lepre won gold in the 90 kg, Lucia Morico the silver in the 78 and Cinzia Cavazzuti with Michele Monti the bronze in the 57 and 100 kg . “A spectacular day – commented Francesco Bruyere, head coach of the women’s team -. Two medals of the same value, but with different stories and a lot of work behind them. Alice certainly deserved more, she was deprived of the final, but she responded with great character by playing a perfect match for the bronze. She has grown a lot in recent months, after the Olympics she has become more aware of her abilities and, in synergy with her sports group of the Fiamme Gialle and Antonio Ciano whom I thank very much, we have undertaken an excellent job that is leading to great results. . Believe me when I say that Alice is more than what we have seen and that she will soon prove it to everyone. Different story for the young Asya Tavano: she was my bet and the national technical direction gave me confidence, a girl with exceptional qualities and with still enormous room for improvement ”.

Path

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Alice Bellandi wins the bronze overcoming the German Luise Malzahn, number 3 in the world ranking. A victory that certifies the ambition of the twenty-three year old from Brescia in the 78 kg category. In the first round he had struggled with the strong Dutch Natascha Ausma, finding the victory point (wazari) in the very first seconds of the golden score, and then building a real masterpiece by beating French Madeleine Malonga, Olympic silver in Tokyo 2020 in the quarter-finals and number 2 in the world ranking. In the semifinals Bellandi found herself facing Alina Boehm, then gold, with the match decided with the penalties, which rewarded the German. A screaming European debut for Asya Tavano, who climbs on the podium of +78 kg thanks to the victory over the Polish Kinga Wolszczak, forced to surrender due to a strangulation (koshi jime) after two minutes. Her path had opened with the success of ippon (immobilization) on the Lithuanian Sandra Jablonskyte, then the ippon of o uchi gari on the Dutch Marit Kamps. The Israeli Raz Hershko, number 3 in the world ranking and among the most popular in the category, cut her way in the semifinals.

Qunti

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It is a bitter fifth place that of Christian Parlati in the 81 kg, defeated by the Greek Theodoros Tselidis after 2 minutes and 48 seconds of the final for the bronze: the Neapolitan has simply absorbed the action of the Greek who ended up on the ground and intending to continue the action was hooked and screened in ko uchi maki komi. The judgment of the support system was inexorable: ippon and no medal for the blue. Christian Parlati’s match began with a top match against Serbian Nemanja Majdov, 2017 world gold and 2019 bronze: a victory gained through the three penalties assigned to the Serbian. The Turkish Omer Aydin then gave a thrill in the next round when, on the attack of o uchi gari on his knees (now renamed “o uchi Parlati”) of the Neapolitan, Aydin avoided by rotating his arms and pinning Parlati. After the consultation decreed wazari Christian did not waste the opportunity, then crashing the Turkish counter-technique in the second minute. It is the Hungarian Krisztian Toth who forces him to stop in the quarter-finals, a decisive wazari in the middle of the match obtained with the response to an attack by the blue. The super reaction of Christian in the recovery with the Romanian Alex Cret, crashed with ko soto gake and ippon in 49 seconds, led him to finally play the match for the bronze.

Other blues

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Giorgia Stangherlin overtook the Lithuanian Migle Dudenaite with ippon of immobilization, but then she had to surrender to the strangulation of the German Luise Malzahan. The race of Gennaro Pirelli was very generous, he fought with great determination with the Hungarian Roland Goz, taking home the point (three penalties) after three and a half minutes of golden score, but he did not spare himself even a bit with the Azerbaijani Mammadali Mehdiyev, number two in the world ranking, who got the better of only after 1’40 “of golden score with an action continued in immobilization.