The judoka Fran Garrigós conquered this Wednesday the first gold for Spain in the 2022 Mediterranean Games, which are being held in Oran (Algeria), in another great day for the national delegation, which won another four new medals.
Garrigós beat the Tunisian Fraj Dhouib with more ease than expected in a final that represents the first gold for Spain in these Mediterranean Games. His triumph was in less than a minute thanks to an ippon that made him champion of the Algerian contest.
“I am very happy to have been the first, hopefully there will be many more here. I started from less to more, at the beginning I was more nervous but in the final it was the fight in which I came out the best”, Garrigós said after hanging up the gold, in statements provided by the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE).
In addition, the women’s petanque pair formed by Sara Díaz and Melania Homar took silver after falling in the final against Tunisia (13-6) in what was their only defeat in the entire competition. Sara and Melania had qualified for the final after beating Algeria (11-3) in the semifinals and France (6-9) and Turkey (12-4) in the preliminary phase.
In the women’s individual petanque draw, Sara Díaz won the silver medal after losing in the final against the Tunisian Mouna Beji in the precision shooting modality. In addition, the male duo Jesús Escacho-José Alberto Andreu Quiñones could not beat the Italian team in the match for the bronze and stayed on the verge of the medal after losing 13-11.
The other medals this Wednesday were three bronzes in wrestling and judo. The first two were signed by Lydia Pérez, in the 62-kilo category, and Marina Rueda, in 53, while the last medal of the day went to Ana Pérez in the -62-kilo judo category.
For its part, the archery team made up of Pablo Acha, Miguel Alvariño and Daniel Castro beat Turkey 6-2 and will fight for gold, as will the tennis couples Álvaro López San Martín-Carlos López Montagud and Jessica Bouzas-Guiomar Maristany), which have guaranteed a new podium for Spain.
In the same way as badminton, which will give three more medals to Spain after Pablo Abián and Luis Enrique Peñalver -in the men’s team- passed to the final after beating the Turkish Lale (21-16 and 21-18) and the Slovenian Krapez (21-6 and 21-18), respectively; while Beatriz Corrales did the same in the women’s draw at the expense of the Turkish Bayrak by 21-14/24-22.
Source The Nation
