WILLIS GARCIA OBTAINS THE FIRST GOLD MEDAL IN MEN’S JUDO IN VENEZUELA
An impeccable ippon gave victory to the Venezuelan athlete, who made history for his country.
In the -66 kg competition, Willis García became the first male judoka in Venezuelan history to win a gold medal, surpassing his father of the same name, who won a bronze medal in judo in the – category. 56 kg in Havana 1991. After less than a minute, García turned the tables on his Canadian opponent, Julien Frascadore, with a flawless ippon that secured the victory, marking his country’s place in the history books in the World Judo Day.
“I feel very happy. I am pleased that all the work done in this period has finally paid off. The semifinal was a very strategic match, given that the Cuban had beaten me four times before. But I managed to dominate the match. and surprise him, which led to ippon. In the final, the Canadian and I knew each other very well, but I dominated and managed to score the ippon, thank God. My father won the bronze and I just won the gold, but “Thanks to him I am here and the goal is to surpass him in the Olympic Games. For that we are in the final stage and I am trying to see if I can qualify and overcome it. “That’s the goal.” said García, adding Venezuela’s third gold medal in the general medal table in Santiago 2023.
The judoka became the first man to win a Pan American gold medal in the discipline and the third overall. The first gold medal in judo for Venezuela was won by the late judoka Allison Henry (-72 kg) at the 1983 Caracas Pan American Games, and the second was won by Elvismar Rodríguez (-70 kg) in Lima 2019.
The historic Venezuelan champion had already won at the Cali 2021 Junior Pan American Games and recently won a silver medal at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games.
Written by Melanie Donoso and Anita Carreño
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2024-02-16 09:22:10
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