Hard to believe why this judo star was disqualified!
In the semifinals of women up to 57 kilograms of the Grand Slam in Paris, the French Olympic bronze medalist Priscilla Gneto (30) fights against the Japanese Momo Tamaoki (27) for a place in the final.
Everything looks fine until…
Gneto’s cell phone falls out of the pocket of her judo coat!
No joke: Almost two minutes before the end of the fight, Priscilla Gneto was already on the home straight to the final, her phone fell on the mat and the referee immediately blew his whistle.
There was a lot of confusion in the hall for the time being, but then the decision was made: the bronze medal winner from London 2012 was disqualified and was therefore unable to make it into the final!
Gneto on the French sports newspaper “L’Equipe”: “These are the imponderables of life. I didn’t want to end up with a phone call and no medal!”
Which: Normally, the judo fighters have to empty their pockets before the competition, but Gneto forgot the mobile phone in her pocket.
The 2017 European champion: “I can’t do anything about it anymore. Next time I will handle my bags well before stepping on the tatami (the Grand Slam, ed.).”
And Gnetos incident is not the first cell phone disqualification in a Grand Slam in judo! As early as 2019, the Portuguese Anri Egutidze (25) lost his phone to the Swede Robin Pacek (30) during a competition – at that time at the Grand Slam in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
Maybe the judoka should take a look in their bags more often in the future…
