At the IBSA World Judo Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, Italian judoka Carolina Costa claimed the silver medal in the J2 visually impaired over-70kg division after falling just short in the final against Cuba’s Sheyla Hernandez Estupinan. The 32-year-old Sicilian athlete, competing for the Fiamme Azzurre sports group and entering the tournament on the heels of her fourth European title won in Germany a month prior, fought through a demanding bracket on the Georgian tatami before finishing second in her class.
Costa’s Path Through the Tbilisi Bracket
Costa opened her tournament in the J2 ipovedenti +70kg category with a victory over neutral competitor Polina Marchukova in the round of 16. She then advanced past Uzbekistan’s Mokhinur Parmonova in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal round, the Messina native secured a hard-fought victory against Brazil’s Meg Emmerich to reach the gold medal match.
Facing Hernandez Estupinan in the final, Costa was unable to secure her third world title following previous victories at Baku in 2022 and Birmingham in 2023. The Cuban opponent had previously fallen to Costa in the 2022 World Championship final in Baku, but turned the tables in Tbilisi to claim the top step of the podium. Despite the loss, Costa’s silver medal cements her status at the highest level of international disabled sports.
Italian Delegation Results and Near Misses
The broader Italian team experienced mixed fortunes across the weight categories in Tbilisi. Simone Cannizzaro competed in the J2 visually impaired -81kg division, putting together a strong run that ended just outside the medals. The 29-year-old Brescia native, also representing Fiamme Azzurre, defeated Brazil’s Denis Rosa in the round of 16 and eliminated Ukraine’s Dmytro Solovey in the quarterfinals.
Cannizzaro’s momentum halted in the semifinals against Kazakhstan’s Bexultan Kulmurza. He subsequently missed out on a podium finish after dropping the bronze medal bout to Shakhban Kurbanov. Meanwhile, the youngest member of the Italian squad, 22-year-old Dongdong Paolo Camanni of the Fiamme Gialle, competed in the J1 totally blind -70kg category. After opening with a win over Artem Merkulov, Camanni was eliminated in the round of 16 by the Netherlands’ Seb Sloot.
Diplomatic Presence and Federation Reactions
During the competition, the Italian delegation hosted Fabiola Albanese, Deputy Head of Mission at the Italian Embassy in Georgia, who attended the venue to observe the matches and discuss paralympic sports with team representatives. Silverio Alviti, president of Fispic, praised the squad’s overall performance from the stands.
“I congratulate Carolina Costa for yet another result of enormous prestige,” Alviti stated through the federation. “The world silver medal is a splendid milestone for paralympic judo that rewards the commitment of our champion and the FISPIC technical staff led by Francesco Faraldo.”
Francesco Faraldo, the FISPIC technical director, echoed those sentiments regarding the team’s resilience and competitive drive. “Carolina Costa always teaches us that with willpower and the desire to win, you can achieve anything,” Faraldo said. “She gave a strong signal to the team by dragging us all the way to the final. She fought with ardor, recovering from an initial disadvantage and trying to win gold until the very last second.”
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