PARIS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — China’s two-time Olympic judoka Ma Zhenzhao took bronze in the women’s 78kg category at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, earning the country’s first Olympic judo medal since Rio 2016.
The gold medal went to the top-ranked Alice Bellandi of Italy, while Israel’s Inbar Lanir grabbed the silver medal.
Madeleine Malonga of France was eliminated in the round of 16, losing to world No. 13 Patricia Sampaio of Portugal, who later overwhelmed world No. 5 Ma in the quarterfinal.
Asiad champion Ma, 26, placed 17th at Tokyo 2020, defeated Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko in a repechage contest and went on to beat world No. 2 Anna-Maria Wagner of Germany in the bronze medal match with a waza-ari, sharing the medal with Sampaio.
The men’s 100kg final saw Georgia’s Ilia Sulamanidze score a waza-ari within 53 seconds, but ultimately lost due to a Shido penalty for grip avoidance, surrendering the gold medal to Azerbaijan’s Zelym Kotsoiev.
It marked Azerbaijan’s second judo gold in Paris. Israel’s Peter Paltchik and Uzbekistan’s Muzaffarbek Turoboyev shared third place.
