Tokyo : Day two of Tokyo 2020’s judo competition on Sunday saw a pair of siblings mount the top step of the podium for the first time in Olympic history, with Japan’s Hifumi Abe and his sister Uta Abe triumping in the men’s -66kg and women’s -52kg respectively.
Born in 1997, Hifumi won gold at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics, as well as the 2017 and 2018 World Championships, while his younger sister Uta took the spoils at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships.
In the women’s -52kg semifinal, Uta Abe defeated Italy’s Odette Giuffrida by a waza-ari, while France’s Amandine Buchard gave Fabienne Kocher of Switzerland a quick throw for an ippon in only 16 seconds. 21-year-old Uta beat Buchard by an ippon in golden score additional time.
Giuffrida shared the bronze medal with Chelsie Giles, whose medal was the first for Great Britain at these Games.
Vazha Margvelashvili of Georgia saw off South Korea’s An Baul by a waza-ari, and Hifumi Abe overwhelmed Daniel Cargnin of Brazil in men’s -66kg semifinal. In the final, the Japanese judoka claimed victory by a waza-ari in regular time, joining his sister as an Olympic champion.
An Baul and Cargnin thus shared third place in the category.
UNI/XINHUA
