Judoka Thelma Monteiro, who has been out for six months due to a serious injury, has lost her direct place in qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but is able to be in the scoring zone due to a “quota reallocation”.
In today’s update of the Olympic qualifying rankings after the Antalya Grand Slam, Portugal retains seven judokas in the virtual qualifying zone, but Telma Monteiro is no longer 17th or last in a row with -57kg.
The lack of competition for the Benfica judoka, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, has left Thelma Monteiro at a loss, unable to add points, with the final points coming in September at the Baku Grand. Slam (7th).
The 38-year-old judoka has the most extensive track record in the sport in Portugal, with an Olympic bronze, four world titles, six European titles and a host of medals, many of them at international level.
After Tokyo 2020, the Games to be held in 2021, Thelma Monteiro has announced her desire to continue competing and qualify for Paris, which could be her sixth Olympic Games after Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2016, Rio -2016 (bronze) and Tokyo 2020.
For the Paris 2024 race, in addition to Thelma Monteiro, who is now in the “redistribution of quotas” – the remaining quota places for the judokas with the most points – in the virtual qualifying zone of Portugal is Catarina Costa (-48 kg). ), Barbara Timo (-63 kg), Patricia Sampaio (-78 kg), Rochelle Nunez (+78 kg), Jorge Fonseca (-100 kg) and João Fernando (-81 kg).
Sporting’s last two judokas left Antalya with good results: Jorge Fonseca, Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist and two-time world champion, was a gold medalist, while Joao Fernando won bronze.
The results, which saw Fonseca move up five places in the 100kg weight class, where he is now 10th, while João Fernando remains out of direct qualification but up four places in the 81kg weight class, strengthened his points to take first place judoka immediately after live recording.
There was also good news from Antalya for young 19-year-old Thais Pina, who was a silver medalist and returned to good performances on the international stage in a year when she was already on the cusp of Grand Slam medals. in Paris in fifth place.
The judoka of Alges and Dafundo jumped from 40th to 32nd place at -70 kg, but is still far from the qualification zone.
Qualification for the Paris 2024 Games will officially end in June, with the final lists and redistribution of the final quotas by the Olympic Committees and the International Judo Federation scheduled for the period from June 25 to July 8.
The world calendar includes several continental championships in April, including the European Championships in Zagreb (25-28 April), and the World Championships are scheduled in Abu Dhabi from 19 to 24 May, following the Grand Slam tournaments in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Barysy (Kazakhstan) ).
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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