After Scutto, also Giuffrida on the podium of the World Cup: the judo blues are already aiming for Paris

DOHA – Two magical days for the Italian judo girls. After the bronze of the twenty-one year old Neapolitan Assumed Scutto in the 48 kilos category, the podium of Odette Giuffrida. In the final which was worth one of the two bronze medals up for grabs of the 52 kg, the 28-year-old Roman from the Army beat the Kosovar Krasniqi district, Olympic gold in the 48 kg: a very tough confrontation, which required eight minutes of ‘golden score’ before the blue’s waza-ari which proved to be successful. For her it is the first world medal, in a career in which two Olympic medals still shine, silver in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020.

In the early stages of the World Cup, Giuffrida beat Azerbaijan Aydan Valiyevathen the Moroccan Soumiya Iraoui. In the quarterfinals, the defeat against the Hungarian came Reka Pupp which deprived her of the possibility of fighting for the gold, but the blue restarted with momentum in the repechage scoreboard: the Israeli comeback Gefen Primo, before arriving at Krasniqi and excluding her from the podium on which she climbed last year at the World Championships. The Japanese confirmed her gold medal with the fourth world title Uta Abe.

In short, the Azzurri continue to prove themselves: after being junior world champion in 2021 in Olbia, Assunta Scutto is already in her second consecutive world championship bronze after the one she won last year in Uzbekistan. But unlike 2022, now the rankings of the Doha World Cup are starting to give points for the Olympic ranking, which will define qualified and seeded for Paris 2024. In short, the Olympics is already starting now, and the Azzurri are candidates to be protagonists.