The 25-year-old member of the Judo Club Andrimont, who returned to competition at the end of April at the Euro after a one-year absence due to knee surgery, had nevertheless started her tournament with a convincing victory in the first round.
Indeed, Willems won on ippon, after 1: 19 of combat, against the 33-year-old Puerto Rican Maria Perez (IJF 23), vice-world champion in 2017. It was Perez who had beaten Willems during the first two participations in the Worlds of the Belgian, in the 1st round in Baku in 2018 and in the 2nd in Tokyo in 2019.
After defeating her pet peeve, against whom she was down 4-0 in direct confrontations, Gabriella Willems was beaten on the gong by the Italian Martina Esposito (IJF 72), against whom she remained on a victory at the European Open from Riccione in September. After a hard-fought fight, Esposito unleashed a move three seconds from the siren. After viewing the images, the referee decided to award a waza-ari to the Italian. Due to lack of time, Willems could not even attempt to reverse the trend.
