Julia Figueroa, a judoka from Cordoba, won the first medal for the Spanish team at the European Championships that started this Friday in Sofia, after hanging herself the bronze in the category of up to 48 kilos by prevailing over ippon Serbian Milica Nikolic in the playoff final.
Figueroa, bronze in the last World Cups in Budapest, had to wait for the “golden technique” to be able to break the Balkan judoka, who was penalized in extra time with her third shido -penalty- that gave the victory to the Cordovan.
The competitor of the Valencian Terra i Mar team had previously fallen in her semifinal encounter with the French Shirine Boukli, who ended up taking the championship after winning the final against the Portuguese Catarina Costa.
In this way, Figueroa wins the first medal for Spain, also adding to his personal record as the second continental medal after the bronze he scored in 2015.
His journey through the competition circuit began in the round of 16, in which he faced the Azeri Hamidova to prevail by the golden point. Then, already in the quarterfinals, they faced the Italian Francesca Milaniin another very tight fight that ended up being resolved by a ippon in the absence of only 1.16 to close. Her third fight was in the semifinal against the French Curlswhile his fourth and last match was also resolved by the golden point against Nikolic.
