Jorge Fonseca confirmed his status as a two-time world champion in the -100kg category at the Tokyo Olympics. The Portuguese judoka spent a flawless morning in Nippon Budokan, winning his first two matches, and thus staying on the path to a gold medal. Patricia Sampaio, in her Olympic debut, stayed in the second fight.
Fonseca, number 2 in the world rankings, only entered the round of 16, but his first visit to the Budokan 1 carpet was short. It only took 17 seconds to make an ippon on Belgian Toma Nikiforov.
The quarter-final match was much longer against Russia’s Niyaz Ilyasov. After equalizing in the normal four minutes, the fight progressed to overtime. There was still a break to treat an injury to the Russians – there were long minutes during which the Portuguese walked from side to side on the mat. When Ilyasov returned, Fonseca managed to score with Waza Ari after 3 minutes 55 seconds in the gold score.
Patricia Sampaio’s day was much shorter in Budokan. Fighting with a weight of -78 kg, the Portuguese began with a good victory in the first round over Venezuelan Karen Leon, but she did not resist in the “eight” struggle with German Anna Maria Wagner. The world champion defeated the Portuguese in 2d and 15s.
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