Julia Figueroa returns to the international scene this Friday, this time looking for a new podium at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, the event that takes over from the World Championship on the world judo calendar. The woman from Cordoba, who rose to third place in the world ranking after the World Cup, starts as first seed in the -48 kilogram category.
To the capital of United Arab Emirates The woman from Cordoba arrives after a bittersweet World Cup. Julia showed outstanding sensations in Tashkent, but she ended up giving up in the two decisive fights to reach the medals and she saw how she was left off the podium when she had everything in her face to even qualify for gold.
Despite this disappointment, Figueroa will leave again with the idea of be among the best of his category, looking for medals and a good handful of points that will allow him to continue climbing positions in the world ranking and, mainly, the Olympic one, which is already underway ahead of the 2024 Paris Games.
The fighter from Cordoba starts as the main seeded in the Grand Slam de Abu Dhabi, something that allows you to be exempt from the first round, in addition to having a more benevolent starting table. And it is that in the last update of the world ranking, Julia Figueroa has risen five places, to go from eighth place to third. Her first rival will come from the previous duel between the Turkish Merve Azak and the Brazilian Alexia Nascimento. On her own side of the draw, the Romanian Alexandra Pop is presumed as the most dangerous judoka to overcome en route to the semifinals.
Turned into one of the references of the Spanish team, Julia Figueroa will look for a new international medal to confirm the great moment in which she is going through and, incidentally, leave her presence in the Jerusalem Mastersthe last appointment of this 2022, which will bring together the best judokas of each category in the capital of Israel in December.
