Bronze medal for Petros Christodoulides at the Judo Grand Prix in Linz
Petros Christodoulides won the bronze medal in the -60 kg category at the Judo Grand Prix held in Linz, Austria, on Thursday.
According to a press release by the Cyprus Judo Federation, the 18-year-old Cypriot athlete is expected to make a huge leap in the rankings leading up to 2024 Olympics in Paris when the updated list is announced next week, as having already collected 165 points so far, and with the 350 points he scored in Austria, he is expected to move up from No71 to around No35.
It is noted that the above calculations are made without subtracting the second and third athletes from each country that are high in the rankings, since in the Olympics each country is entitled to one athlete per weight category, so with one athlete per country, Christodoulides enters the top 30 and within the qualification places for Paris.
As stated, the young judoka defeated Daniel Leutgeb of Austria in the quarter-finals, but failed to beat Ukraine’s Dilshot Khalmatov in the semi-finals and was called upon to play for bronze against Emiel Jaring of the Netherlands, whom he defeated in overtime.
It is also recalled that on March 31, at the Grand Slam in Turkey, Petros Christodoulides defeated World Champion Lukumi Chkhvimiani, one of the biggest names in the world in the -60 kg category.
It is added that three other Cypriot athletes participated in the Linz Grand Prix, with George Balardjisvili achieving a significant victory in terms of points, beating David Peritsch of Austria in the -66kg category, before losing in the second round to Yermek Amangeldi of Kazakhstan. In the same division, Loucas Louca was defeated in the first round by Brazil’s Gabriel Genro Alves.
Moreover, in the women’s -52kg division, Sophia Asvesta was eliminated in the first round by Djamila Silva of Cape Verde.
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