The third Italian medal at the 2024 World Judo Championships is a silverconquered by Alice Bellandi in the -78 kg category. The splendid path of the Italian was interrupted right on the last obstacle, the most feared of all, which is called Anna-Maria Wagner. In fact, the German once again confirmed herself as the bête noire of the Brescia team, now trailing 5-1 in official direct matches after today’s defeat at the Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi.
The appointment with the first gold of his career at senior level in a major event between the Olympics and world and continental events has therefore still been postponed, after having nevertheless collected numerous victories in the World Tour (4 Slam titles and 1 at the Masters) and in youth events ( European-World Junior double in 2018). The next opportunity will present itself in just over two months, on the most important stage of all, that of the Olympic Games in Paris.
Second consecutive world podium for Bellandi, who improves on the bronze in Doha 2023, but stops just one match away from the finest metal. Unfortunately, the 25-year-old from Lombardy struggled to measure up to her rival in the initial stages of the match, making a couple of errors in an attempt to anticipate Wagner and receiving two shidos (again due to a false attack).
One sanction away from disqualification, the Italian judoka finally found some countermeasures in the Kumikata phase, completing some good attacks and provoking the first shido of the Teutonic woman due to passivity. At the start of the Golden Score, the 2021 world champion then managed to take advantage of a little carelessness from the Italian during the ne-waza phase, forcing her to surrender by strangulation and therefore winning by ippon.
