Portuguese judoka Jorge Fonseca won the silver medal at the Grand Prix of Zagreb on Sunday, more than a year after winning silver in Ulan Bator, in June 2022, he returned to international podiums.
The two-time -100 kg world champion, in 2019 and 2021, had a particularly difficult year, with an injury that saw him miss the Masters in Israel in December, and again in February with a muscle tear. A scenario that the judoka distanced himself from tatami mats and left him out of the worlds in May.
On his return in June, again in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, the judoka again had physical problems and did not finish that match, more than a month before being eliminated from the Budapest Masters in August.
It was a true passage through the desert for the Sporting judoka, until he returned to Zagreb this Sunday, to show the ability that has projected him in judo in recent years, with two world titles and an Olympic medal (bronze).
Exempt in the first round and starting fifth favorite (21st in the world at -100 kg), Jorge Fonseca won his group and secured a place in the semi-finals, after successively beating Germany’s Louis Mai (47th), Kazakh Bezkat Shagatayev (169th) and Poland’s Piotr Kuczera (42nd) in 38 seconds.
In the semi-finals, Jorge Fonseca faced the first favourite, the Dutch Simeon Catharina, 13th in the world and over whom he had a lead of two wins and one defeat, which increased to three this Sunday.
Already in the final, with at least one medal guaranteed, the Portuguese had a very balanced fight against the Serbian Aleksandar Kukolj (23rd), who was his opponent in the 2021 World Cup final in Budapest.
Jorge Fonseca, who was penalized twice, finally conceded in the final part, with Kukolj scoring with waza-ari 43 seconds from the end, leaving little room for recovery for Fonseca.
Sunday’s silver medal, and when the circuit is already at 100%, allows Jorge Fonseca to add another 490 points in his category and most likely return directly to the qualifying zone for Paris2024, and when he had already dropped to ‘quota continental’ ‘.
Source: DN
