Gaby Willems was eliminated in the second round of the European Judo Championships on Saturday morning in Sofia, Bulgaria for her return to the highest level. The Liégeoise lost to the world No.2 in the middleweight category (-70 kg) and reigning European champion, the Dutch Sanne Van Dijke. First blocked after 1:15 (waza-ari), Willems was then pinned down after 1:30 (ippon). It was the Belgian’s fourth defeat in as many games against the bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 24-year-old from Liège, who fell to 46th place in the world following her absence linked to the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligaments of her right knee on April 2, 2021 at the Grand Slam of Antalya, had eliminated in the first round the Hungarian Szabina Gercsak (IJF 30). “Gaby” had lost their three previous confrontations. She was convincing. His waza-ari after less than two minutes was followed by an ippon (ground choke) after 2:55 of the fight. (Belga)
© 2022 Belgian. All rights of reproduction and representation reserved. All the information reproduced in this section (dispatches, photos, logos) is protected by intellectual property rights held by Belgian. Consequently, none of this information may be reproduced, modified, redistributed, translated, commercially exploited or reused in any way whatsoever without the prior written consent of Belgian.
