Judo, Italy’s Olympics begins with disappointment for Scutto and Carlino. Expectations for Giuffrida and Piras

First bitter day for the Italian judo to the Paris Olympics. The number one in the world Assumption Scutto she finished seventh after the defeat against the Swede Tara BabulfathWhile Andrea Carlino he surrenders to Yung Wei Yang (Taiwan). Today the minimum weight categories were competing, the 48 kg women’s and 60 kg men’s, in which Japan, with Natsumi Tsunoda, and Kazakhstan, with Yeldos Smetov, triumphed respectively.

The Scutto Olympic Tournament

Scutto’s day started well, with a victory against the American Maria Celia Laborde arrived thanks to the house specialty, the backhand. But the next match, against the 18-year-old revelation Babulfathturned out to be more complicated than expected. The match was also marked by a controversial referee decision: an evaluation that usually ends with a “no score”. The scoreboard awarded waza-ari to the Italian but the referee indicated the opposite side: the point is for Babulfath. At this point, Scutto could still play for access to the final for the bronze, but in the repechage challenge against the French Shirine Boukli the curtain has fallen on his Olympic adventure.

Bruyere: “Close to Scutto after the disappointment”

These are the coach’s words Francis Bruyere: “We often feel alone in defeat, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We are a team that celebrates victories and shares defeats. There will be time to analyze the matches technically and find solutions, now is the time to be close to her, thank her for the many emotions she has given us in these four years and for those she has made us experience today”.

Pug surrenders to Yang

On the men’s side, Andrea Carlino opened the Olympic day for Italy with a courageous performance. In his first match he faced the Australian Joshua Katzmanaging to prevail thanks to a waza-ari obtained during the golden score. “The tension was very high – said the coach Raffaele Toniolo – but Andrea managed to stay calm and produced the best attacks of the match until the final score”. Carlino was also the protagonist of a second great match, this time with Yung Wei Yangthe number one seed. The Italian managed to take the lead with “o uchi gari-wazari” but Yang was irresistible, especially in the ground fight. Having trapped the Italian for the first time with a hold (sankaku gatame), he scored the waza-ari for the draw. Shortly after, however, Yang attacked and blocked the Italian on the ground again, marking the end of the match with “waza-ari awasete ippon”.

Sunday it’s Giuffrida and Piras’ turn

For Italian judo, however, it is only the beginning: Sunday 28th July will be the turn of Odette Giuffrida e Matthew Piras who will compete in the 52 and 66 kg categories. The Roman is at her third Olympics and is hunting for the only title she is missing, even though she won silver in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020. For Piras, however, it will be an exciting Olympic debut.