The judoka from Gijón Noa Fernández, who trains under the orders of José Antonio Gandoy, managed this past weekend to prevail in her weight (+78 kilos) in the western sector phase played in Galicia and qualifying for the Spanish Championship that will take place in Madrid next December 3. Noa’s merit is double because she prevailed in the senior category while she was still a junior.
“I have been doing quite a few competitions in recent weeks to prepare for the Spanish Championship. I was champion of Asturias, second in the Spanish Cup that was held in Gijón and third in the Avilés International Cup, all in recent weeks,” he lists.
“It’s going to be a difficult championship against bigger rivals,” says Gandoy’s pupil
The woman from Gijón has her goal set in the Spanish Championship in her category, the junior, which will not be until March of next year, “but if we can do it well in the senior we will try.” Noa acknowledges that the Nacional “is going to be a very complicated championship because I’m also not going at my weight and much heavier rivals can touch me, but I’m going to see what can be done.” The reason why Noa will not fight at her weight was that “in the Asturias Championship I gave one more kilo because I usually fight at -78 kilos and of course later I had to continue fighting at +78 because it was the category in which I had classified for the sector and cannot be changed,” he explains.
“In La Coruña I strangled a Galician girl who was the first in the sector last year”, highlights the judoka from Gijón, for whom the championship on the 3rd will be her second appearance in the senior category. “The first one was two years ago, I won the first match, but I lost the second,” she recalls. A quite logical result given the difference in category and, therefore, in experience.
His main objective will be the Junior National for which he plans to do several more competitions, but not for the senior, which will be his next appointment. “Until that I will only train,” he indicates. For Noa Fernández, the March appointment will be her sixth participation in the June category since she did the first ones while she was still a cadet. She has a bronze medal and four fifth-place finishes to her credit. In these months Noa will do some more competition, “before the Junior Spanish Championship I plan to do some Spanish Cup, the ones in December and January, and if possible a European Cup, which is in February, although the latter is not yet sure”.
Judo was one of the sports most affected by the pandemic because, as Noa recalls, “we spent a year without competition and almost without being able to train because, being a contact sport, the restrictions were tougher.” Fortunately, the pandemic was more or less behind us and last year there was already a certain normality. In fact, the Junior Spanish Championship was held in which Noa won the bronze medal.
