“It is always a tricky one. There are always two real stumbling blocks for athletes. One is immediately after the Olympic Games and the second is the first event of the year. When do you start back? What condition do you find yourself in? Who are your opponents? So these two occasions are really big times in the lives of athletes and here, this time round, it is a new year, the first IJF event of 2022 and a very unusual situation because instead of having a long lead in to the Olympic Games, we have just six months before the Olympic qualification period begins. That is tricky not just for athletes but also for coaches and team managers. Who to select? Who to send where?
This morning we saw a really good example, with someone who is not often in the area of our reports: Ashley McKenzie from Great Britain. We know him well but he doesnt really feature. Here he was seeded; what a nice thing to be seeded! Unfortunately he drew a young Japanese judoka, Taiki Nakamura, in the first round and we know the depth of the Japanese team. Sadly for McKenzie he went out. We then saw Nakamura continue to bereally impressive. So, you can understand how McKenzie was one of the seeds and lost in the first round.
An Baul, world number one, was defeated by a Swiss player I had never heard of. It was an incredible situation. Telma Monteiro? Okay, we would have liked to have seen her in the final for the home team. It did not really work that way but Portugal still had Catarina Costa in the -48kg final. It is good news for the home team and several local players went far in the event. I am happy for the Portuguese.
We will look to see how the medal table finishes up, who takes medals, who doesn’t take medals and we’ll see just how important this event is because, in the end, all the points you get here, despite the fact those points will be wiped out in the end, they are important for the seedings in the coming tournaments.
This six months is really important and we saw with some of the athletes in the last cycle that it can’t be left too late. You have to start getting yourself into the strongest possible position early on so when the points do start counting you are in a good position so you are always seeded. Some people have decided not to come to this tournament, but the ones who did come are the ones who are going to take those important early points and prepare these early months in the cycle.”
As Day 1 of Grand Prix Portugal closes, the middleweights are ready to fight for their points and positions, just as the lightweights did today. With many susprises and many introductions to possible key figures in the Paris cycle, it promises to be an excellent second day in Lisbon.