Less than a month from the restart of the World Tour (Zagreb Grand Prix from 24 to 26 September) after the long break for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, the time has come to project ourselves towards the competitive three-year period that will bring judo to the next Olympics in Paris 2024.
Italy, fresh from the two bronze medals obtained by Odette Giuffrida and Maria Centracchio, can look forward to the next seasons with optimism thanks to a solid national team that could be further strengthened thanks to very promising new additions in view of the five-circle transalpine review.
In the youth field, in fact, some are standing out very talented guys who seem to have the potential to attempt the Olympic qualification towards Paris 2024. These are mostly junior athletes who, before entering the major circuit, are called to face a season finale in which they will be able to get great satisfaction from the European Championships (9-11 September) and the World Championships (6-10 October) of the category.
Between Luxembourg and Olbia, the emerging stars of Italian judo will have a great opportunity to establish themselves definitively at the junior level and to send an important signal to the technical staff of the “first team”. Assunta Scutto (48 kg), Veronica Toniolo (57) and Martina Esposito (70) are currently the most accredited new names in the female sector for a possible attempt to pass to five circles towards 2024, also considering the passage to 78 kg by Alice Bellandi.
Scutto and Toniolo have won heavy medals in the youth reviews and have already earned the opportunity to make their debut in the World Tour at the beginning of 2021, while Esposito now seems very well off and his debut among the seniors is now only a matter of time. Finally something is moving even in the heavy categories, with Asya Tavano and Erica Simonetti able to often and willingly get on the podium among the cadets and then in the Under 21 continental circuit.
Finally, it is difficult but not impossible to hypothesize the definitive explosion of a very young girl like Giulia Carnà (closed, however, in the future by Odette Giuffrida in the 52 kg), engaged in the last season as a cadet but already vice-champion of Europe for juniors in 2020. The 16-year-old Sicilian is forging ahead and it is still too early to foresee her own I arrive at high levels among the seniors by 2024, however her talent is there for all to see and in about ten days she will be hunting for the second consecutive medal at the Under 21 European Championships.
Much more difficult to read scenario among men, where four out of seven categories seem to be armored in sight of Paris by the various Fabio Basile, Manuel Lombardo, Christian Parlati and Nicholas Mungai. Among the young people on the launch pad, Kenny Komi Bedel must certainly be mentioned, born in 2000, protagonist on February 18th of an excellent debut in the Senior National Team with a splendid seventh place in the Tel Aviv Grand Slam in -81 kg.
The final of this season will then provide fundamental indications for evaluating the current level of the Italian juniors in the European and then in the world. We’ll see if anyone will be able to perform well in the two key events of the year, perhaps earning the call for one of the last two Grand Slams on the calendar in 2021 with a great exploit.
Photo: IJF
