Barbara Timo offers home crowd gold in Almada

Barbara Timo captured the gold medal at the Grand Prix in Portugal in front of the home crowd. Twice a world medallist, Timo is a safe bet for the Portuguese delegation. After the disappointment of Catarina Costa on day 1, who couldn't repeat her feat of last year, Timo had the chance to offer a first medal to the host nation, a medal that was indeed guaranteed; only the colour was unknown. What was sure is that she would get the full support of the public, who on this Saturday were more numerous than day one in Almada.

As expected, the noise level in the venue rose suddenly as the two finalists stepped onto the tatami. For Portugal, their chance to win a gold medal was now and Timo had to take it, which she did after Brazilian finalist Gabriella Moraes was penalised for a second attempt on Timo's arm in the standing position, which is not permitted. As the Brazilian competitor had already one shido to her name, 1+2 counting 3, she was disqualified and the public could let their happiness explode. Gold for Timo and for Portugal. Her second victory in U63kg after her victory in Paris in 2021.

The first bronze medal contest opposed Amina Belkadi of Algeria and Cristina Cabana Perez of Spain. It was a pretty close match until the last 30 seconds, when Belkadi changed her tactics a little, trying to grab her opponent on the back. That was a mistake indeed, since Cabana Perez was just waiting for this to engage a powerful o-uchi-gari that propelled Belkadi flat on her back for ippon. The Algerian judoka was close, very close to winning a medal but not this time and this was a first medal for Cristina Cabana Perez in a grand prix, after three times ending up at fifth place.

After her defeat in the semi-final, Anriquelis Barrios (VEN) still had one chance to reach the podium as she was opposed to Iva Oberan (CRO) for the bronze. For Barrios, winning was a way to save her day after she was top seed of the category. For Oberan, it was an opportunity to win a second medal in a grand prix. Almost five minutes in the golden score period were necessary for Oberan to score a waza-ari with a counterattack. A bronze medal went to Iva Oberan.

Venezuela is not a small judo country anymore. For many years, they have been progressing and improving, reaching more and more final blocks of international competitions. That's why there is no surprise in having Anriquelis Barrios as the top seed of the category. We know that being in that position offers an advantage, but an advantage that is the consequence of regular good results. It also brings extra pressure and a sense of responsibility.

Anriquelis Barrios withstood the pressure until the semi-final where she faced Gabriella Moraes of Brazil and this was probably a little bit too much for her today as she had to bow out and move to the match for the bronze medal.

Gabriella Moraes 

Gabriella Moraes (BRA) was something of a revelation in the -63kg category, with her excellent hikikomi-gaeshi helping her on her way to a first World Judo Tour final and therefore her first medal. In a tight first exchange in her contest with Novitzki (ISR), the 22-year-old managed to break the Israeli’s posture and quickly latch onto the belt and slide underneath to score waza-ari and get a foothold in the fight. What was unusual about this application was that the Brazilian pushed her opponent’s sleeve across their body, to generate additional momentum and prevent any possible defence using that hand.

Once she passed that second-round hurdle, she met the much higher-ranked Zachova (CZE), once again scoring in the first exchange but this time with harai-makikomi. Not content to defend her lead, she finished the fight with the trusty sacrifice. In the quarter-final, she once again won decisively with the technique, disappearing underneath Padilla Guerrero (ESP) to land the only score of the contest. A semi-final victory over number one seed Barrios (VEN) capped a terrific performance from the former cadet world silver medallist.