Francisco Mendes (91) was unbelieving for elimination, after just 30 seconds, in his second fight at the European Sofia Championship against Ukrainian Artem Lysik, sixth in the world and the main seed in the competition. That’s why he asked for some time to think because he had been given Hansoku, and the judges in the video saw nothing, considering that the technique performed with the left foot endangered the opponent’s knee joint.
“What I did was a punishable technical mistake made by Hansko. It’s a dangerous move, but it was absolutely not my intention. Sometimes we lose balance and it happens. I was trying to nullify his attack,” says the -60kg national champion, the only entrant in the The Bulgarian national football team finished the Euro minimum by finishing third in the European Open in Prague.
In the first round, 24-year-old Francisco surpassed Britain’s Samuels Hall (29th place), with Ebon at just 1.12 meters. “Yeah, I started with one of the candidates and then ended up #1 in the race. The balance is still good. I was feeling good, with good sensations. So far it has always been linear. It’s been good progress, and it’s hard to shake it off like that because I felt it could have been better. I already knew him and we walked for him. I felt that winning was possible, even in first place”, says the judoka from Academia de Coimbra.
But mistakes happen. The goal for now is to earn as many points as possible to be able to get a ranking in some competition and then yes, then dream of an Olympic ranking that only opens in June. Right now I’m thinking about taking the Grand Slam and the Grand Prix to gain as much experience as possible, but if I have to get down to a level [opens continentais] To experience new sensations I will do so. Francisco Mendes concluded that it would never be a problem.
A little earlier, in the opening round, 25-year-old Rodrigo Lopez, who was unable to eliminate the ministerial that Dutchman Tomic Tsagakadoya (14) had applied to him in the middle of a battle between Benfica, was eliminated. The athlete has always felt a little difficult to establish a grip.
“My opponent fought strategically. The whole fight was stronger and it ended up being difficult to force my judo. I scorched him before and I won, but this time he studied me well and nullified me. It turned out to be a huge disappointment because it came from two good competitions.” [3.º no Open de Praga e 5.º no Grand Slam de Antália] He wished for a good result here. Unfortunately, I couldn’t manage it,” Rodrigo lamented.
Among the Portuguese eliminated in the middle of the morning, before champion Thelma Monteiro (-57kg) also got in her way in her first fight, thus breaking a magical cycle of 15 podiums, with six titles, in 16 posts, Joanna Diogo (-52kg, 48th place) fell in the second round after losing, 15 seconds from the finish to French Olympian runner-up and world number one Amandine Bouchard.
In the opening round, the athlete from JC Coimbra overtook Italian Martina Castagnola (47th place) with a stop while there was still 2.27m on the clock.
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