A day without gold for the Azzurri at the Mediterranean Games but five silvers arrived from Karate, Badminton, table tennis, Greco-Roman wrestling and men’s artistic gymnastics, and two bronze medals, again in badminton and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Two important and historic medals come from blue badminton. The silver of Katharina Fink and Yasmine Hamza in the women’s doubles: in the final the blue were defeated 2-0 (21-15 21-18) by the Turks Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlican Inci.
“It is a historic medal and we consider ourselves very lucky – said Hamza – I am honored to represent my country and bring home this silver. We feel very lucky and happy,” added Fink.
Bronze medal for the men’s doubles Fabio Caponio and Giovanni Toti, stopped in the semifinals at the end of a hard-fought match (17-21 21-15 21-19) by the Spaniards Luis Enrique Penalver and Pablo Abian.
Mirco Minguzzi won the silver medal in the 87 kg Greco-Roman wrestling. The blue was beaten in the final for them by the Algerian Bachir Sid Azara 5-0. While Ruben Marvice won the bronze medal in the men’s 60 kg Greco-Roman fight, overcoming the Syrian Ahmad Alnakdali for 10-8 who protested in the final, he abandoned the challenge.
No bronze instead for Ignazio Sanfilippo in the 67 kg category of Greco-Roman wrestling. The blue was beaten in the final by the French Gagik Snjoyan for 4-1. Not even Ciro Russo defeated 3-1 by the Croatian Kamenjasevic made it.
It is not yet the moment for Italy’s first gold in karate at the Mediterranean Games in Oran 2020: in the kumite final -68 kg, Silvia Semeraro is defeated 2-0 by the Egyptian Feryal Abdelaziz. For Semeraro, the possibility of winning the second Mediterranean gold after the one won in Tarragona in 2018 fades. Before the final, the Apulian athlete had beaten the Slovenian Smilijan 4-0 and then overtook the Turkish Eda Eltemur in the semifinal.
