Priscilla Gneto joins double family gold

From the first minutes of the 2022 edition of the Tel Aviv Grand Slam, taking place these three days fans were able to verify that the public was present and indeed very happy to be back. The stands were well stocked, to follow the performances of the Israeli athletes of course, but also those of competitors from the other 33 nations involved. The crowd desired a beautiful medal for Timna Nelson Levy and got awarded in the end.

The U57kg category was so dense at the beginning of the competition, undoubtedly one of the toughest in the women's tournament as many athletes could, without hesitation, hope for laurels at the end of the day.

Certainly, Timna Nelson Levy of Israel was the best placed. At home and already a winner of the tournament in the past, she had a small advantage, which however was not enough to win against the other Gneto of the tournament, Priscilla (FRA), bronze medallist at the London Olympic Games in 2012, who qualified for the final.

This was not the most spectacular final of the day, but what can be said, without a doubt, is that Gneto controlled the tactics perfectly to push her opponent to be penalised three times. The aim is to win by ippon but when this is not possible, then the tactics can play an important role and for sure the French women's team understood that. Imitating her younger sister with the gold medal around her neck, Priscilla won the third title of the day for the French team.

It should be noted that during the first rounds, Nelson Levy dispatched, in the most beautiful way, by a spectacular ippon, the 2016 Olympic champion, the Brazilian Rafaela Silva. To face Gneto in the final, it was eventually Eteri Liparteliani (GEO) who did the best after her victory against the second French judoka in the category, Faiza Mokdar.

The first bronze medal was to be decided between Rafaela Silva (BRA) and Faiza Mokdar (FRA). Coming back to your best level is a real challenge, one that Silva is now experiencing. Never in the position to really put her French opponent in danger, she was penalised three times, offering the bronze medal to young Mokdar. Defeating an Olympic champion will for sure remain an important step in her career, even if Silva is not yet back at her best.

Arleta Podolak (POL) has returned to the WJT final block after a few years of struggles but is more and more regular on the circuit again. For the bronze medal, she faced Timna Nelson Levy, who is a strong competitor, as everybody knows, but who also had the public on her side. Physically stronger than Podolak, Nelson Levy didn't really try to use her technique, but she did well with pushing the Polish competitor to be penalised. For today, that was enough to get a medal, which remains a good performance for her first major competition since the Olympic Games in Tokyo.