The Portuguese judoka Telma Monteiro won the silver medal in -57 kg this Friday at the Grand Slam in Baku, Azerbaijan, after winning three of four matches, losing only in the final against the Canadian Christa Deguchi.
The medal for the Portuguese judoka follows a less positive participation in October at the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), where Telma Monteiro, who was playing her first competition after knee surgery, was eliminated in her debut.
In Baku, the most awarded Portuguese judoka in history, 11th in the ranking, was exempt in the first round and ended up reaching the final after beating the Bosnian Andjela Samardzic (58th), the Bulgarian Ivelina Ilieva (33rd) and the Belgian Mina Liberer (13th).
In the final, Telma Monteiro found a rival, world champion in 2019, whom she had never beaten on the two occasions they met, in 2019 at the Yekaterinburg Grand Slam and this year at the Antalya Grand Slam.
The fight between the two, strong names in the intermediate category, was decided only at the ‘golden point’, a combat period after the first four minutes, which ends with the first judoka to score.
Telma Monteiro and Christa Deguchi (15th) dragged the decision until minute 6.11, when the referee admonished the Portuguese for the third time (hansoku make), causing her elimination and victory for the Canadian by ippon.
Telma Monteiro’s medal follows a difficult period, not only after surgery, but at a time when the judoka has been disputing the leadership of the Portuguese Judo Federation, along with five other colleagues, accusing the organization’s president of oppression, in a scenario that also caused the dismissal of the coach Ana Hormigo, in solidarity with the athletes.
In the Grand Slam of Azerbaijan, Telma is part of a team of seven summoned, of which Rodrigo Lopes (-60 kg) and the vice-champion of Europe Catarina Costa (-48 kg) were excluded from their first fight today.
The Portuguese participation will continue on Sunday, when Patrícia Sampaio (-78 kg), Rochele Nunes (+78 kg), Anri Egutide (-90 kg) and Jorge Fonseca (-100 kg) compete.
Source: TSF
