European Championships in Zagreb: Gennaro Pirelli wins the bronze medal in the -100 kg

There is also room for Gennaro Pirelli on the podium on the last day dedicated to the individual competitions of the European Judo Championships.

At the Zagreb Arena in Zagreb (Croatia), in fact, the twenty-three-year-old Neapolitan won the bronze medal in the -100 kg and, thanks to a haul of 350 points, he will settle around the twentieth position in the Olympic ranking.

The Italian (photo IJF) made his debut on the Croatian tatami mats with a

golden score success over the Portuguese Jorge Fonseca, condemned by the third and decisive shido. In the round of 16, therefore, came another victory for hansoku make, the one against the Ukrainian Anton Savytskiy. To block his way to the quarterfinals, then, was the Azerbaijani Zelym Kotsoiev, who at the golden score was able to benefit from the third yellow card imposed on the judoka from Campania.

The latter defeated Serbian Aleksandar Kukolj by waza-ari in the repechage match, before winning the bronze medal match against the host Zlatko Kumric, who was forced to raise the white flag for double waza-ari.

It was the first continental podium of his senior career for Pirelli, who at the end of 2021 became European U23 champion in the -90 kg category. (AGC)