Judoka Patricia Sampaio has already reached the semifinals in the 78 kg weight category. Jorge Fonseca was eliminated in his debut match

Judoka Patricia Sampaio qualified for the semi-finals of the 78kg weight class at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on Thursday, defeating China’s Zhenzhao Ma in her third bout at the Champ de Mars.

Sampaio, who has already beaten Kenya’s 22nd-ranked Zeddy Cherotich and French Olympic runner-up Madeleine Malonga, shined again, winning again via first-minute choke.

In the semi-finals, the Portuguese will face the Italian Alice Bellandi, the world leader in this category and vice-world champion, whom she has never defeated, but with the confidence that she will always fight for a medal at these Games, in the final or in the fight for bronze.

Portuguese judoka Jorge Fonseca, bronze medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and world champion in 2019 and 2021, was eliminated in the last 16 in the 100 kg weight category, marking his debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Fonseca, ranked seventh, was edged out on ippon by reigning Olympic champion Aaron Wolf, a judoka of an American father and Japanese mother who had already won his first bout at the Champ de Mars.

History repeated itself between Fonseca and Wolf: the Portuguese judoka was unable to defeat the Japanese, which became the fourth defeat for the Portuguese in clashes between them.