Fourth medal for Italy in Zagreb: the Italian took the bronze in the -100 kg category, obtaining the first individual continental podium of his career among the seniors. Tomorrow the Team Event
Enzo De Denaro
April 27 – 7.51pm – MILAN
Italy continues to shine at the European Judo Championships, underway in Zagreb. On the last day dedicated to individual competitions, the Italian haul is enriched with another medal: after the silver of Odette Giuffrida and the bronzes of Elios Manzi and Savita Russo, Gennaro Pirelli also climbs to the third step of the podium in the -100 kg. The 23-year-old Neapolitan, already winner of the Grand Slam in Tokyo in 2022 and continental bronze in the Team Event a year ago in Krakow, wins his first individual senior European medal and obtains 350 points for the Olympic ranking, thus getting closer to the direct qualification zone for the Paris Games.
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A crazy and unpredictable race, that of Pirelli. The Italian eliminated in the first round one of the candidates for the title, Jorge Fonseca, who in his personal list boasts two world championship titles and the Olympic bronze in Tokyo: the young athlete of the Fiamme Oro managed to harness the very strong Portuguese until ensnaring him, thus extinguishing his unpredictable explosiveness and leading to the three sanctions that earned him the disqualification. It was then the Ukrainian Anton Savytskiy who fell into the Neapolitan’s net who, also in this case, allowed his opponent practically nothing, accompanying him to the three decisive sanctions. This strategy, which had been successful until then, did not work with the Azerbaijani Zelym Kotsoiev, who was able to turn the sanctions game to his advantage, sending Pirelli to the repechage. The Italian then changed gear, first placing an o soto gari wazari on Serbian Aleksandar Kukolj, then two more wazari on Croatian Zlatko Kumric in the bronze final. A great liberating scream and the right hand clapped on his chest expressed Gennaro Pirelli’s great joy, while the Italian coach Enrico Parlati exulted with his arms raised to the sky at the edge of the tatami.
Tomorrow
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Tomorrow is the last day of racing with the Team Event scheduled, the mixed team race. The ambitions of the Italian team for an encore: after the bronze won in 2023, Italy has everything it takes to close these European Championships with another medal. This is the line-up that will challenge the IJF Refugee Team in the first round tomorrow: Thauany David Capanni Dias (57kg), Martina Esposito and Irene Pedrotti (70gk), Giorgia Stangherlin and Erica Simonetti (+70kg), Manuel Parlati and Edoardo Mella (73 kg), Lorenzo Rigano (90 kg), Sansei Kwadjo Anani and Nicholas Mungai (+90 k).
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2024-04-27 17:54:41
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