Rika Pop shook his head, although he left the mat victorious after his first match. The unpleasant Mongolian opponent probably made the Hungarian girl sweat more than the castle, and despite her victory, the superiority of the Baksi was not satisfied with her performance. After two equal warnings, the crossbar shook, as the opponent attacked twice, and the third penalty for passivity meant defeat and disqualification. But Pop is more routine than that, and although he did not hold his opponent, he made a mistake, and the Mongolian left the fighting area, and received a third warning.
Popp waited for the fight against the Italian Odette Giuffrida more calmly (after all, the third place in the world rankings passed her first opponent only in overtime), but still lost to her with Vasari. But the defeat in the quarterfinals no longer meant automatic elimination, as Popp continued in the consolation team and collided with the Israeli Gevin Primo. The rival started more decisively, but the disciple of the famous former ground fighter, Akos Brown, learned one thing and another from the teacher, in 47 seconds he made Primo knock his arm and continued with great confidence.
No one expected the Hungarian to face an easy opponent in the bronze medal match, but Amandine Bouchard, the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, promised that it would be particularly difficult, especially since the home crowd – understandably – supported her one-on-one in the match. Grand Palais Ephemeri. The weight of the stakes did not prevent the initiative of the fighters, and Popp received only a warning before the end of regular play. Despite the great advantage, to the Frenchman's credit, he did not try to win the warnings, but this brought him success indirectly. Popp was awarded another penalty, and he had to take risks, and one of his attacks was blocked by Bouchard, who had not beaten him in his eight matches so far.
The other Hungarian on the day of competition, Bence Pongracz, started the matches very encouragingly, taking care of his opponent from Niger with a double Vasari in just a minute and a half, practicing judo as if he had not participated in his first senior Olympics, his great movement and confidence gave reason to believe, even if the defending Olympic champion Abe Hifumi bowed to him in the next round on the tatami mat. Unfortunately, the Japanese's tremendous physicality, stable performance and greater technical repertoire than Pongracz, tipped the scales. As it turned out later, not only the Hungarian, who was unbeaten on Sunday, defended his title.
Paris 2024, Jewelry
Male 66 kg
Round 1: Bens Pongrash – Alhassan (Nigeria) 10-0
Second round: Abe (JPN) – Pongrac 10–0
finals: Abe-Lima (Brazil) 10-0
The final result
1. Abe Hifumi (Japan)
2. Willian Lima (Brazil)
3. Guzman Kyrgyzbaev (Kazakhstan) and Denis Vieru (Moldova)
5. Strahinja Ponsic (Serbia) and Walid Khiar (France)
…Benjack Bongrac in his place
Women 52 kg
Round 1: Rica Pop Power
Second round: Pupp–Lhagvaszurengijn (Mongolian) 10–0
Quarter-finals: Giuffrida (Italian) – Pop 7-0
comfort: Bob – Primo (Israel) 10-0
Bronze match: Bouchard (France) – Bob 7 – 0
finals: Keldyurova (Uzbekistan) – Krasniqi (Kosovo) 7-0
The final result
1. Digora Keldigorova (Uzbekistan)
2. Krasniki Region (Kosovo)
3. Larissa Pimenta (Brazil) and Amandine Bouchard (France)
5. Odette Giuffrida (Italy) and Rika Popp (Hungary)
