
Judoka Raz Hershko won a silver medal, her first medal ever in the competition, on Sunday at the European Judo Championships in Bulgaria, the fourth medal to be awarded to the Israeli team since the 2022 championship began.
While the Israeli delegation is composed of men and woman, only women fighters made it to the podium in this year’s championship.
On Friday judokas Timna Nelson-Levy and Shira Rishony won a gold and bronze medals respectively.
On Saturday Judoka Gili Sharir won another bronze medal.
Hershko won the silver in the over 78-kilogram (about 170 pounds) weight-class after losing to France’s Romane Dicko in the finals.
A minute and a half before the fight ended, Dicko scored an ippon – a score that automatically grants a fighter the win – and secured her third gold medal in the competition.
Gili Sharir won the bronze in the over 63-kilogram weight-class after being eliminated in the quarterfinals and being sent to repechage, a bracket which allows eliminated competitors a chance to continue the fight for a bronze medal.
She then moved on to compete against Cristina Cabana Perez of Spain.
Nelson-Levy was awarded the gold medal on Friday after beating Sarah-Léonie Cysique of France in the under 57-kilogram weight-class for women and scoring a waza-ari – the second highest-scoring move possible in under two minutes.
She marked the second female Israeli to receive a gold medal at the European Judo Championships after Yael Arad‘s win in 1993.
Rishony won the bronze medal in the under 48 kilograms on Friday after losing in the semifinals, recovering, and beating Francesca Milani of Italy. This is Rishony’s first career medal and marked the first medal to be awarded to a female Israeli judoka at the European Championships 2022.
Source: Ido Rakovsky – HAARETZ
Header: Timna Nelson-Levy. Photo IJF.