This Friday, the Portuguese Jorge Fonseca won the gold medal in the -100 kg category, at the Judo World Championships, taking place in Budapest, Hungary, revalidating the title that already belonged to him.
The Portuguese judoka defeated the Serbian Aleksandar Kukolj, by ippon, in the decisive fight, adding the second gold medal in the World Championships, after the victory in 2019, in the Japanese city of Tokyo.
With just over a month to go before the Olympic Games in Tokyo2020, to take first place on the podium, Jorge Fonseca left Uzbek Muzaffarbek Turoboyev (45th), Canadian Kyle Reyes (26th) on the way to the gold medal. ), Georgian Ilia Sulamanidze (31st), Dutchman Michael Korrel (third) and Serbian Kukolj (54th).
Jorge Fonseca’s gold in the competition held at the Arena Laszlo Papp, in Budapest, joins Anri Egutidze’s bronze, at -81 kg, last Wednesday.
The judoka, who danced two years ago when he made history in the Japanese capital and reached the top of world judo, once again repeated his feat, with an immaculate course, making every fight he played easy.
Fonseca beat them all by “ippon”, the highest score in judo, and most even before he got to the middle of the fight, putting into action all his explosion on the tatami, in a hurry to sort things out.
With a lower center of gravity, compared to the five opponents he faced, the judoka mixed his great technical capacity with explosive strength, showing, in each fight, the will to take on the attacks.
Throughout the course he saw only two “shido” (punishment), already in the semi-final with the Dutch Korrel, when he managed a waza-ari advantage and a few seconds to end the fight, by ippon, and in the final.
In the final, Jorge Fonseca was on guard against an opponent who had beaten the world number one, Georgian Varlam Liparteliani and Canadian Shady Elnahas, both seeded.
But once again he wanted to impose his judo, in a fight he seemed to enter more cautiously, again with a taller opponent, who, on the other hand, tried to avoid Jorge Fonseca’s catches in the initial moments, knowing the explosive side of the Portuguese.
Kukolj got to see a passivity punishment at 1.23, but Jorge Fonseca also saw it in the following seconds.
Dominating the match, Jorge Fonseca took the lead with a waza-ari in the 2.13th minute, leaving the pressure on Kukolj’s side, who was forced to go after the result, but the Portuguese, as in previous matches, showed great ‘ class’.
A “small inside harvest” (ko-uchi-gari) with 52 seconds left, left Kukolj lying on the mat. That’s when Jorge opened his arms, simulated a “little dance”, presenting himself again as world champion, his second title in less than two years.
@ JN
