The outstanding national judoka Luciana Julca was awarded the silver medal in the -57 kg category of the Pan American Judo Lima 2022 by falling in the final against the Brazilian Blanca Rosa. Our compatriot managed to reach this stage after beating the Chilean Martina Moreno.
“The important thing is that I fought until the end to win, but you also have to recognize the level of my rival. I am sad for not achieving the gold medal, but I am satisfied with all the effort I made, since I tried to win until the end”, sustained our Pan American runner-up.
Likewise, he pointed out that this great event serves as a great lesson “to continue improving in the technical part, since I have fought with high level rivals, but I gave everything of myself to give the best for our country”, remarked Julca, who She will be one of our representatives at the Rosario 2022 South American Youth Games. “Rosario is coming, where will I go with more preparation, but always looking to win and improve my level and, above all, put the colors of my Peru on high”, he specified.
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The realization of this event of the Peruvian Judo Federation, which receives economic subsidies from the Peruvian Institute of Sport, has the participation of more than 700 judokas from 25 countries. The Oceania Championship is also held for the first time in America —precisely in Peru— because the countries of this continent could not do this tournament last year, which adds points in the ranking for the next international events.
Three medals for Peru on the first day
In addition to the silver medal for Luciana Julca, the bronze medals were achieved with Benjamín Galarreta, brother of fellow judoka Yuta Galarreta, and Sebastián Benítez. The youngest of the Galarretas, who participated for the first time representing Peru, came out the winner of the duel of Peruvians by defeating Jorge Suárez in -81 kg.
Benítez, in a great presentation, gave Peru the second bronze medal, after beating Venezuelan Eduardo Franco by ippon in -90kg. Before sentencing his victory, the Peruvian fighter deservedly won by one point.
Luciana Julca was close to hanging the gold. Photo: IPD
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This Sunday, April 10, the competitions continued from 2:00 in the afternoon at the Lima 2022 Pan American and Oceania Championship with the start of actions in the Junior category at Sports Center 1 of the Videna High Performance Center in San Luis.
