Paris 2024: Team GB's Chelsie Giles suffers shock loss in opening judo contest, Abe retains men's -66kg title
Updated 28/07/2024 at 22:28 GMT
Great Britain's Chelsie Giles suffered a shock 'golden score' defeat to Brazil’s Larissa Pimenta in her opening contest. Hot favourite and defending champion Hifumi Abe retained his gold medal in the men's -66kg judo division at the Champs de Mars Arena. He defeated Brazilian Willian Lima on Mat 1, with Denis Vieru of Romania taking bronze against French hopeful Walie Khyar.
Inconsolable defending judo champ Abe collapses into arms of coach after loss
Great Britain’s Chelsie Giles saw her hopes of judo gold ended in her opening contest at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
World No. 5 Giles, competing in the women's under-52kg class, was aiming to win GB’s first Olympic gold judo medal.
However, after receiving a first-round bye, she was upset 1-0 in a ‘golden score’ defeat in the second round to Brazil’s world No. 10 Larissa Pimenta.
Giles, who won bronze in Tokyo three years ago, was not the only big name to exit on Sunday morning as defending Olympic champion Abe Uta also lost.
Uta Abe załamała się po porażce
Image credit: Polska Agencja Prasowa
Giles did not show the same emotion as Abe but must have felt similar pain after losing in a tense tussle against Pimenta.
There was nothing to separate the pair after the four minutes of regulation time so the contest went to ‘golden score’, when the next score wins.
After a further two minutes and 10 seconds, it was Pimenta who broke the deadlock by registering a waza-ari to triumph.
British Judo women’s lead coach Jamie Johnson said: “We knew that Pimenta is a very good fighter. Prior to today they had both won one contest each, so it was by no means an easy opening contest.
"Going into golden score Chelsie picked it up but was unfortunate to get caught.
"It’s a tough result to take, Chelsie is the ultimate professional in her day-to-day training and preparation and the overall feeling at the moment is disappointment.”
Abe retains men's under-66kg title
Elsewhere, Japan's Hifumi Abe won his second individual Olympic medal as he retained the men's under-66kg judo title at Paris 2024.
Abe, the clear favourite in the division, defeated Willian Lima of Brazil in the gold-medal bout, with Romanian Denis Vieru completing the podium in the bronze-medal match against France's world bronze medallist Walie Khyar.
Abe added a second gold to his two Olympic medals, having won the under-66kg title in his home Games three years ago, and earning a silver in the mixed team event.
Abe has still not tasted defeat since his semi-final against compatriot Joshiro Maruyama at the 2019 Tokyo World Championships, and he has won the last two World Championship titles in Tashkent and Doha.
PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 28: Hifumi Abe of team Japan (white) celebrates after winning the gold medal during the Men -66 kg Final match between Hifumi Abe of team Japan and Willian Lima of Team Brazil on day two of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Champs-de-Mars Arena on July 28, 2024 in Paris, France.
Image credit: Getty Images
The win will be all that much sweeter for Abe after his sister, Uta, was beaten in the second round of the women’s under-52kg class by world No. 1 Diyora Keldiyorova of Uzbekistan.
She was in tears on the mat afterwards, but the French crowd inside the Champs de Mars Arena chanted her name as she got to her feet dejectedly.
Giles did not show the same emotion as Abe but must have felt similar pain after losing in a tense tussle against Pimenta.
There was nothing to separate the pair after the four minutes of regulation time so the contest went to ‘golden score’, when the next score wins.
After a further two minutes and 10 seconds, it was Pimenta who broke the deadlock by registering a waza-ari to triumph.
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