Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican judoka Kevin Loforte was defeated by ippon in his bout with Israeli Baruch Shmailov in the under 66 kg category on Sunday, in his debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.
In the D series bout, the Mozambican judoka faced many difficulties against the Israeli, ranked eighth best in this category. Looking to decide the issue in the early stages, Shmailov came in strong and scored against his Mozambican opponent within 15 seconds.
Loforte’s resistance lasted 1 minute and 46 seconds, and with 2 minutes and 14 seconds to go, Shmailov succeeded in defeating the Mozambican by ippon, which gave him 11 points.
The 24-year-old Mozambican arrived at the Olympics thanks to coming third in the Dakar 2021 African Championship, placing him 67th in the world with 809 points. He therefore benefited from the International Judo Federation’s Continental Quota. His preparations for the Olympics were thrown off by an injury which only resolved itself shortly before the start of the competition.
