David García Torné, Fran Garrigós and Laura Martínez Abelenda are on the podium
MADRID, 3 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The judokas David García Torné, Fran Garrigós and Laura Martínez Abelenda inaugurated this Friday with one silver and two bronzes the medal harvest for the Spanish delegation in the Senior European Championship, which is being held in Montpellier (France).
Thus, García Torné was proclaimed runner-up of the ‘Old Continent’ in the -66 kg category. After beating the British Charlie Young in the first round, the Italian Fabio Basile in the second, the Ukrainian Bogdan Iadov in the quarterfinals and the Russian Murad Chopanov in the semifinals, he fell in the final against the Moldovan Denis Vieru.
For his part, Garrigós won bronze in -60 kg. After defeating the Italian Angelo Pantano in his initial match, belonging to the second round, he lost in the quarterfinals to the Frenchman Romain Valadier Picard. Destined for the repechage, he beat the Azerbaijani Turan Bayramov and then the Russian Ramazan Abdulaev in the final medal fight.
And in the women’s competition, Martínez Abelenda won bronze in -48 kg. Despite beating the Russian Kristina Dudina in her first fight, directly in the second round, she lost to the Portuguese Catarina Costa in the quarterfinals. She later defeated the Azerbaijani Leyla Aliyeva in the repechage and that provoked a subsequent duel between compatriots.
Not in vain, the also Spanish Mireia Lapuerta was his victim in the final fight for bronze. Previously, Lapuerta had been defeated in the semifinals by the French Shirine Boukli; However, until reaching that stage, Lapuerta had left a pleasant impression, surpassing the German Katharina Menz and the Swede Tara Babulfath.