Bárbara Timo wins gold at the Portuguese Grand Prix
Judoka Bárbara Timo, 31 years old, won the gold medal at the Portuguese Judo Grand Prix in the -63kg category.
In the final, held in Almada, the Benfica athlete defeated the Brazilian Gabriella Moraes due to a dangerous action by her opponent.
“We entered this race thinking about preparation, to gain pace, and what a great pace we achieved! Of course I always enter to win, but I thought a lot about fighting the fight and I think that was how I got the gold. I was very focused and I didn’t expect it. only the end”, said the Portuguese judoka.
Timo was seeded third in the Olympic qualifying tournament and 16th in the world rankings.
On Friday, Catarina Costa had the best result of the day for the Portuguese team, with a fifth place.
On a day when 12 Portuguese judokas remained in action at the Grand Prix, only Bárbara Timo managed to enter the fight for the medals, despite the presence of athletes from the Olympic program João Fernandes and Anri Egutidze, both in the -81 kg category.
João Fernando (-81 kg) had three fights, losing in the round of 16 against Moldovan Mihail Latisev, while Anri Egutidze fell in the second fight, before Sagi Muki, already on the ‘golden score’ and lamented “a tactical error in the last seconds” that ruined everything, but also complained about the refereeing.